The Crystal of Sayan
by the frozen cherry
Summary: When Ollie Potter started her 7th year at Hogwarts she already had: an over protective father, an annoying boyfriend, two cute siblings and some crazy best friends, she didn't expect this to happen...SEQUEL TO 'THE PROMISE'
1. Prologue

'Give me the Crystal Katya'

'No Father'

'Katerina, give me the crystal!'

'No'

'Ivan, hold her still'

'Alexander what are you doing?'

'Be quiet Xenia, your daughter needs to know her place'

'Father don't make me do this'

'Katya, just give him the stupid crystal'

'But Ivan, what the crystal does is wrong, we shouldn't use it, it's barbaric, using it to control them like that'

'Katya, just give it to Father'

'Do as he says Katerina'

'Mother, don't tell me that you believe in this too?'

'I'm warning you girl, don't try my patience, one last time; give me the crystal'

'Mother, Father, Katya, Ivan, what's going on? What is all the noise? Why are you all fighting?'

'Just stay out of this Nadia'

'But Father, Katya's crying, Ivan why are hurting her?'

'And if I don't give up the crystal, will you kill me and unclasp the pendent from by dead body?'

'Well isn't that a good idea. Ivan hold your sister still, Xenia, take Nadia away, she shouldn't have to see this'

'You can't kill me father, the crystal won't work without me'

'I'm sure that your sister would be able to use it'

'Don't you see father, Grandmama gave it to me. Only I have the ability to use it. Nadia doesn't have the eyes.'

'Then I'll just have to make you! _Imperio!'_

'Alexander no! Not on your own daughter!

'Father, why isn't she doing anything?'

'Be quiet Ivan. By Rasputin! Why am I cursed with such an insolent daughter, she's fighting the curse'

'I cannot allow you to take the crystal father'

'Well I'll just have to fight you for it'

'Alexander, be careful you're going to hit Nadia!'


	2. Chapter 1

'I wish you wouldn't work so late' Ginny muttered as her husband crept into their bedroom, peeled off his work robes and the clambered into bed next to her. He wrapped his strong arms around her waist so her back was now pressed against his chest.

'I'm sorry Gin' Harry replied, giving his red haired wife an apologetic squeeze. 'It was a busy day and then Percy called me into his office'

'You just missed the kid's bedtime again and they were really looking forward to hearing the end of the story. They had to settle for Ollie instead'

'Which story did she tell?'

'I can't really remember' Ginny replied 'but it was not up to her normal story telling standards. I think she just did it to make the twins shut up so she could get some peace and quiet, without resorting to hexing them'

'So it was a good day?'

Ginny rolled over to face her husband 'what do you think?' she asked, exhausted from the events of the day. She had no idea how her mother was able to raise seven children and still keep her sanity, while she was being driven to madness by two toddlers and a teenager. 'Ollie disappeared for most of the day to Merlin knows where, I was left to deal with the twins, who just wanted to play with Ollie, because the absolutely adore her, especially Arrie'

'She could help you more'

'Harry, I can't make her and besides she's seventeen. She should be out doing whatever she is doing not babysitting her two year siblings. Ollie does enough babysitting as it is. It would be better is you were able to come home earlier' Ginny said finishing her rant.

'About that' Harry replied 'I was going to be home on time but then Percy wanted to speak with me'

'About what?'

'He wanted to offer me a new position'

'In the Auror Department?'

'Sort of'

'Well?'

'You know McIrish is replacing old Proudfoot as head of Magical Law and Enforcement? Well Tonks has been promoted to the head of the Auror Department'

'That's great news, but how does that affect you' Ginny asked tiredly, wanting to get to the bottom of the matter

'Well, because she is the head of the department she won't be able to go up to Hogwarts every month to teach, since she has other responsibilities now'

'So you'll go and do it instead, since you're the only one in the department who actually has any teaching experience'

'No exactly, McGonagall was also at the meeting. She offered me the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher'

'What?' Ginny said in amazement, rather loudly before realising that she should probably be quiet otherwise she would wake the twins.

'I've been offered the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher' Harry repeated.

'But what happened to Remus?' Ginny asked, trying to take it all in.

'He and Lavender have been asked to do a series of talks around the world as part of the International Wizarding Council's plans to stop the discrimination of werewolves and improve werewolf rights'

'And did you accept?' Ginny asked, wondering how this would affect her family.

'I told them that I was extremely flattered by the offer but that I had to consult you first before I told them my decision. McGonagall added that you would be able to come and live in the castle for the year and hinted that you could use the time to get back into professional quidditch by helping Madame Hooch.'

'Well, I don't know what to think' Ginny replied sleepily 'it's not just us we have to consider but the twins and how the move would affect them and also Ollie, this is her last year'

'Hey don't worry about it now' Harry said, pressing a kiss to Ginny's forehead as she snuggled into him. 'You need some sleep, we'll discuss it in the morning'

* * *

><p>Ollie Potter lay sprawled out in the long dry grass, in the field near Potter house. Her long dark curls fanned out in disarray around her head and her broomstick was discarded next to her. She lay on her back, her unusual bright violet eyes staring up at the sky as she watched the clouds move by in the August sun.<p>

She had escaped the madness that was Potter House and had been flying around their make shift quidditch pitch, practising some moves and formations she could use once the quidditch season had started at school. She was the Gryffindor Quidditch captain for the second year and was determined to win the cup this year, especially since they had narrowly missed out to Ravenclaw last year and this was her last year at Hogwarts.

Ollie still was not sure what she wanted to do when she left Hogwarts. She had thought about travelling the world or doing something rewarding like becoming a healer and making people better. However she also knew that is she failed to get a job, she could probably become a full time babysitter. She felt like she and spent most of the summer looking after small children. Not just Nicholas and Ariana, her younger brother and sister, but the rest of the Weasley cousins and Dawn, her Godmother's daughter. She did not mind doing it and appreciated the extra pocket money she gained from it but Ollie could not wait to return to school next week.

She twisted her trusty pendent around her finger aimlessly, the crystal at the centre glinting in the bright sunlight. Ollie could vaguely hear the faint cries of delight and excitement coming from the house and assumed that her Dad had returned from work. She was actually surprised because he had been getting n late recently, missing the twin's bedtime and failing to wish her goodnight.

Ollie stood up slowly, smoothed her hair down and picked up her broom from its place in the grass. On top of this hill, near the old tree, was one of her favourite places in the world, along with her bedroom at her house in Italy. She slung her broom over her shoulder and walked slowly down the hill, across the field, over the gate, around the pond/mini lake and through the open back door into the house.

After her father's renovations it had been transforming into a lovely habitable home. Even though it looked rather grand and imposing from the outside, like Malfoy Manor but not so dark, it was homely and modern inside. She crept through the back door, slipping off her muddy shoes and padded into the living room, where she was greeted by the sight of her father, Ginny and the twins curled up on the sofa, they looked like the perfect little family. Black haired Nicholas was sitting on his mother's lap, his small pudgy hand playing with her hair whilst red haired Arrie was nestled on her father's lap, sucking her thumb contentedly as she listen to the end of her dad's story.

Ollie took a deep calming breath before walking past them through the room, heading towards the stairs and hoping not to disturb them.

'Hey Ollie' he dad said as she made it to the stairs.

'Hey Dad' she replied quickly, before retreating to the comfort of her room at the top of the house. In this large extended family she sometimes felt so alone and out of place. Ollie entered her room, placing her broom next to her school trunk. Her stuff was littler around the room since she had asked Ribbons not to touch anything. The last time she had let Ribbons sort out her room, she had not been able to find things for weeks. Pictures of family and friends were stuck on the walls, alongside quidditch posters and other random things.

'Hey Bell, got anything for me?' Ollie asked her owl, Bluebell, who was perched on top of a pile of school books on her desk, waiting to be packing into her trunk.

The blue eyed owl looked back at Ollie before rocking from side to side on her legs, as if to show Ollie that nothing was attached to them. Ollie sat on her bed, disappointed by the lack of mail. She had hoped to get something from Austin, her boyfriend, or Heather, her best friend, who was currently in New York spending some quality time with her estranged mother.

Ollie looked at her picture of her and Austin taken during a Hogsmeade visit last term. She and Austin had just started going out after Christmas in her 6th year. He was not her first boyfriend but he was her first at Hogwarts. There had been a muggle boy she had met in the summer between her 5th and 6th year when she had been visiting Susan, Dudley and Emmy, but that had not been that and had ended when she had returned to school.

Austin was her other good friend, Phoenix's 2nd cousin and the one they had made fun of for being so geeky during their ancient runes classes back in the 3rd year. However when they had been paired together to work on a project by Professor Slughorn in their NEWT level potions lesson, they had grown closer. Austin was extremely clever and Ollie had found herself wondering why he had been put in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. He was currently in Luxembourg at the Wizarding Youth Parliament and was spending time being mentored by the former minister and now the international British Wizarding Ambassador, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Had promised to write but the letters were now become less and less frequent.

Ollie looked at the calendar which was pinned to her wall, with all the days crossed off as she counted down the days until she returned to Hogwarts. She was meeting Phoenix in Diagon Alley tomorrow so they could do some last minute shopping for school things and to catch up.

'Ollie, dinner's ready' came Ginny's loud voice shouting up the stairs.

'Just coming' she replied, running down the flights of stairs to enter the chaos that was a family meal time.

* * *

><p><strong>Welcome to my new story!<strong>

**I hope you have not been put off by the vague prologue. I gather from the reviews I received, that its a bit confusing but I promise you, it actually does have something to do with the main plot of this story. As always please review and let me know what you thought of this opening chapter. The next update will be on next Thursday, unless the site crashes again and I can't log in (did that happen to anyone else, or was it just me?)**

**All the best ~ Cherry :) x**


	3. Chapter 2

'So you're going to Diagon Alley today?' Harry asked Ollie at the breakfast table.

Ollie nodded her head in response as she swallowed her mouthful of toast.

'Well, I'll take you there before I head to the ministry' Harry said.

'Dad, I can get there myself!' Ollie replied 'I'm not meeting Phoenix until later; I can floo to the Leaky Cauldron if you think that it will be safer than apparating'. She had past her apparation test with flying colours back in March but her Dad still did not like her apparating without adult supervision.

'Ollie you're too -'

'Merlin's beard Dad, I'm 17! I'm not a baby anymore, I can look after myself' Ollie interjected angrily, tied of been treated like a child, not like the adult she legally was. 'Dad, when you were my age, you were gallivanting around the country by yourself, so why can't I just go to London?'

'Ollie, there was a war going on-'

'Dad, all I'm going to do is meet up with Phee in Diagon Alley. Buy some school supplies, have lunch, drop in on Gabby and Dennis and then come home'

'I just worry about you' Harry replied 'I'll meet you in Weasley Wizard Wheezes and we'll go home together' he suggested.

'Fine-' everything else Ollie was going to say was cut off by Ginny entering the dining room.

'Ollie sweetie, do you think you can do Arrie's hair?' she asked 'apparently I'm brushing too hard'

'Yeah, sure Ginny' Ollie replied, clearing her plate away and marching upstairs to sort out her little sister.

'Harry you shouldn't try to smother her' Ginny said as she cleared away the rest of the breakfast. 'Harry you have to realise that she is now seventeen years old and can practically look after herself, she's more mature than either one of us was at that age'

'I just worry about her Ginny, it's my job' Harry replied. 'A minute ago she was the same age as Arrie and Nick, sitting on my shoulders and speaking in lisping baby French and now she is all grown up and about to start her last year at Hogwarts'

'I know' his wife replied standing on the tips of her toes and kissing him affectionately. 'Now go, before you're late for work. I'll make sure she gets to Diagon Alley safely.'

* * *

><p>'He's being so annoying at the moment. Unless there is some new dark threat out there, which nobody has told me about, his over protectiveness getting too much' Ollie said to her friend, Phoenix, as they walked arm in arm along Diagon Alley, catching up after the long summer holiday. Phoenix had been away with her family to Spain and had come back a golden brown colour which contrasted greatly to Ollie's pale skin. Ollie hated the fact that despite spending two weeks at her house in Italy, she still was still so white. Her skin did not tan, it only burnt.<p>

'Well at least he let you come' Phoenix replied.

'Well, knowing my Dad, he's probably got his spies from the Auror department following us' Ollie remarked. 'Why wasn't Jon able to come?' she asked

'It's quite hard to make out, but I think that he is visiting his uncle this week, before the new Quidditch season kicks off. Well, at least I think that's what he meant' Phee replied showing Ollie her mobile. 'I don't think he's got the hang of predictive text'

Ollie laughed, remembering how muggleborn Phoenix had introduced their friends to mobile phones last year so they could keep in contact over the holidays because 'owls are too conspicuous in a muggle neighbourhood'. Ollie had known how the work a phone already and Jon, who had studied them in his muggle studies class, seemed to think it was a good idea, enjoying the challenge, but Heather, who had been brought up in an entirely magical family, rejected the idea immediately.

'Have you heard from Heather at all this summer?' Phee asked, enquiring about their other friend as they stopped outside Madame Malkin's.

'Only that she was spending the summer in New York with her mother' Ollie replied.

'I heard that as well, although I did heard from Austin that McGonagall's made her Head Girl'

'How would Austin know that?' Ollie asked puzzled as to how her boyfriend knew this.

'Didn't you know, Austin's been made Head Boy?' Phoenix replied

'He must've forgotten to mention that' Ollie mumbled, hurt that her boyfriend had not shared this piece of news with her and that he seemed to be communicating more with Heather than his girlfriend. She was also annoyed that Heather had not really contacted any of her friends this summer.

'Is everything ok between you and Austin?' Phoenix asked as they entered the shop and started to look through the clothing racks.

'I don't know' Ollie replied honestly, glad to get her troubles off her chest; this question had been bugging her since the start of the holidays. Austin had been great to be around when they had been at school and were working on the project. She had found him kind and endearing when they had gone on dates in Hogsmeade. They had been great dates in Hogsmeade, getting a drink in the Three Broomsticks before taking a romantic walk around the village and the school grounds. They had also had a great time being part of a big group of friends.

However when she had visited Austin at the start of the summer things had been awkward. When they were spending time together, there would be these uncomfortable silences, when they had run out of things to say to each other. Ollie had also found it irritating that whatever topic of conversation they got onto he always managed to lead it back to politics and law. After the ordeal with her Father's trial and the investigation into the corruption in the ministry which had followed, Ollie had come to dislike politicians.

When Austin had come round to dinner, to meet her Dad, he had spent most of the evening talking to him, discussing international politics and cutting down any opinions she held on the subject. They didn't really seem to have anything in common, he even didn't like quidditch, one of Ollie's passions, thinking it was a complete waste of time.

Ollie had considered trying to Ginny about all of this because she knew that Ginny had experience in these matters and it would be less embarrassing than trying to talk to her Dad. However she had decided against it because Ginny always seemed so busy looking after the twins.

'I always told you he was weird' Phoenix finally stated after Ollie had finished telling her all of her relationship woes 'but you did not take my advice and now look at you. Austin does not care about anyone apart from himself. He is extremely ambitious.

'I'm sorry I have been bitching about your cousin' Ollie said apologetically

'Honey, he's my second cousin, who I did not even realise, existed until I received my Hogwarts letter.' Phee replied. 'No one likes him, not even Raven, who normally likes everyone. Now this would look really good on you' she said changing the subject and pulling out a deep purple top and holding it up to Ollie.

'It's nice' Ollie replied, holding it up to herself and looking in the mirror, momentarily distracted from her relationship problems.

With their money pouches considerably lighter, the girls sat under a giant floating umbrella, out of the hot August sun, having a quick lunch. Their bags, filled with all their new clothes, books and other necessary school supplies were on the ground under the table.

'So what are you going to do?' Phoenix asked Ollie, as they started on their huge ice cream Sundays.

'I don't know' Ollie replied 'I could just be being paranoid and everything might get better once we are back at school, so I'll just wait and see. Besides we've got out last year at Hogwarts to enjoy'

'To our NEWTs and beating the Slytherins!' Phoenix toasted

'To crushing the Slytherins!' Ollie added as they raised their glasses before breaking out into uncontrollable laughter.

* * *

><p>'So what can I do for you today Ollie?' Gabby asked as Ollie entered the photography studio on Diagon Alley, which was owned by Gabrielle and Dennis Creevey. Phoenix had needed to buy something for her sister from Quality Quidditch Supplies and Ollie knew that if she even entered the shop she would be tempted to blow all her baby sitting money and savings on one of the new Blitzen brooms, which were on display.<p>

'I came to visit you' Ollie replied, approaching the counter. 'How was your Honeymoon?'

'It was absolutely amazing' Gabby replied, as a wistful smile appeared on her face and she summoned a photo album off one of the shelves before passing it to Ollie. She flicked through the pages looking at all the beautiful photos Dennis had taken. It was easy to see why everyone had believed Gabby's cover story, of being a model in Paris, while she worked at the IDA because she looked absolutely stunning in all the pictures.

Gabby and Dennis had finally got married at the beginning of the summer. They had delayed it for ages because they had to help with the investigation at the Ministry and explain how they were able to break in unnoticed to all these high security places. Then they had been busy setting up the photography business.

'Dennis is out the back, if you want to say hello'

'I would but, I'm meeting back up with Phee in a minute'

'Have a good term Ollie and try and keep out of trouble' Gabby called out after her as Ollie left the shop, stepping back into the blinding sunlight. She raised her hand to block out the sun and caught sight of Phoenix waving at her from outside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes across the street.

'Got what you want?' she asked

'Yeah' Phoenix replied, showing Ollie the pair of chaser gloves she had bought. 'I thought I would give them to Raven as an early birthday present, she really wants to make it onto the house team again this year'

'I'm sure that if she plays as well as she did last year, she should have no problem' the new quidditch captain replied as they entered the garishly coloured Weasley shop. Ollie had to blink a couple of times to get used to the brightness of all the colours. 'They've re decorated' she muttered looking around.

'How observant of you, Miss Potter' came the voice of George Weasley, appearing from out of nowhere, to stand next to her. 'You're Dad's just talking to Angelina out the back, something about ordering some of our defence line for some of the new incompetent Auror recruits'

The two girls fought their way through the crowds of people in the shop to the front desk.

'...So Ron will be around next week to collect them' Harry said as he emerged from the back room with Angelina. 'Oh, hello Ollie, Phoenix'

'Hi Mr Potter'

'Hi Dad'

'Did you have a good time?'

'Yep'

'Did you have good summer Phoenix?'

'Yes, I spent two weeks with my family in Spain' Phee replied trying to ignore the tension that was forming between Ollie and her father. 'Damn, I've got to go, otherwise I'll miss the train home' she said turning to Ollie.

'Do you want a lift home? I could side-long apparate you' Harry offered

'Why don't you just apparate, you have your licence?' Ollie asked her friend at the same time

'No thanks Mr Potter, I would apparate but my muggle grandparents, who know nothing about magic, are staying at our house at the moment, so it would be a bit awkward to appear out of nowhere. I'll just get the tube from Piccadilly Circus to Paddington because it's easy to get the train home.'

'I'll see you on the train next week' Ollie said pulling Phoenix into a hug 'thanks for listening'

'No problem' her friend replied, before picking up her bags and walking out of the shop.

'Such a nice girl' Harry commented as his daughter stood next to him in silence. 'You wouldn't believe she was related to that boyfriend of yours' again he gained no response from Ollie. 'I mean he was very nice but doesn't he remind you of-'

'Dad! Can we please not discuss this right now' Ollie interjected angrily as they walked out of the shop.

'Ollie, are you ok?' Harry asked because this behaviour was not normal.

'I'm fine Dad' she replied 'I'm just tired'

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing this story. This has been a very tough week for me and they have encouraged me to keep going. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you next week!<strong>

**Cherry :) x**


	4. Chapter 3

'So you are sure you have got everything?' Harry asked Ollie as she dragged her heavy trunk out to the car.

'Yes' Ollie replied as she passed it over to her dad so he could lift it into the boot.

'Are you sure?'

'Dad, we go through this every year, I have packed everything!'

'Ok, just making sure' he replied as Ollie handed over her owl cage, containing a very moody Bluebell, who hated being locked up in her cage.

'All set?' Ginny asked, walking towards them a twin on each arm. She helped them climb into the car before strapping them into their seats.

When the twins were safely settle, Ollie climbed in beside them as her father and Ginny sat in the front and he began to drive away from the house. Soon they were flying through the early Autumn sky on their was to Kings Cross Station.

'Is the invisiblitly device still working?' Harry asked Ginny, who was sitting next to him in the passesnger's seat.

'Yes' she replied, looking at the various dials on the dash board. This car had been a wedding present from her family and was modelled on the Ford Angleia they had owned when she was a child, though it had some improvements.

'Everything ok in the back?'

'We're fine Dad, concentrate on the flying' Ollie replied, before returing to entertaining the twins, who were listening attentively to what ever she was saying. She was currently telling them a story about a knight, a princess and an evil dragon, a story she vaguely remembered from her childhood.

'Did you tell Ollie this story?' Ginny whispered to Harry as Ollie used her wand to illustrate certain points. At this moment the twins were watching in awe as Ollie pretended to be the fire breathing dragon and had conjured some fire.

'No, maybe Luna did' Harry replied, focusing on the direction they were travelling in.

'Have you told Ollie about our relocation to Hogwarts and your new job?' Ginny asked. 'Harry!' she exclaimed, taking his silence as a no.

'Is everything ok? Ollie asked, hearing Ginny's exclamation.

'I just thought that your dad was heading in the wrong direction' Ginny told her step daughter hastily.

'Dad can you please get us there on time this year?' Ollie asked her father, remembering the mad undignified dash she had make for the train last year.

'Harry you need to tell her' Ginny told her husband in a hushed voice. 'You know her better than I do, but even I know that she is going to flip when she finds out, especially since you ave left it so late to tell her. At least give her the train journey to cool off'

'Right' Harry replied absentmindedly. 'We're starting out descent' he announced

'Where's platform nine and three quarters Arrie?' Ollie asked holind on tightly onto the two year old's hand as they walked through the busy Kings Cross station.

'There' Arrie replied, pointing at an ordinary brick wall.

'No, that's not it' Ollie replied, uring the small girl around to where there seemed to be a large collection of people with trunks waiting around.

Watching her daughter and Ollie, brought back many memories for Ginny of when she went to platdorm nine and three quarters year after year to see her brothers off, wating imapatiently untilit was her turn to go. She looked at Ariana and Ollie who were waiting as Harry when through the barrier first, pushing the trolley, laden with Ollie's heavy trunk.

'Ready?' Ginny asled, looking down at her small black haired son. Nicholas nodded is head, holing on to her hand tightly.

'One, two, three' Ollie counted as they went throught the barrier together.

I've put you're trunk and Bluebell onto the train' Harry announced

'Thanks Dad' Ollie replied, giving him a hug.

'Ollie no go' Arrie cried, laching onto one of Ollie's legs

'Ollie no go' Nicholas repeated, following his sister's example and grabbing onto his sister's other leg and grasping it tightly.

'Hey, hey, don't cry' Ollie stated, crouching down, with some difficulty, to be at eye level with the twins. Her violet eyes trying to clam down the twins' distressed hazel.

'I'll see you soon mes petits' sne whispered, giving them both a hug and kissing the tops of their heads. 'Draw me lots of pictures' she told them as she handed them over Ginny.

'You take care' Ginny said, giving her stepdaughter a kiss on the cheek, before pushing her towards the train.

'See you at Christmas!' Ollie called out before boarding the train.

'Harry, you forgot to tell her' Ginny said in alarm.

'Damn!' Harry exclaimed before running after Ollie. 'Ollie!' he called out 'Ollie'

'Yes Dad?' Ollie asked, standing at the door of the carriage door, in everyone's way.

'I...' Harry struggled to find the words to tell his daughter about his new teaching positions, knowing how much it would upset her. In the end he was doing it as a favour for Remus and Professor McGonagall because they had done so much in the past for him and there was no one else who could do it. 'Just look after yourself and try not to get into too much trouble' he said finally.

'Bye Dad' Ollie replied, before entering the train, puzzled by her father's actions.

'Did you tell her?' Ginny asked as she stood on the platform, waving goodbye to the train, next to her sisters-in-law, Fleur and Audrey, who had both put daughters on the train that morning.

Harry shook his head. 'I just couldn't tell her' he replied.

'Then you'd better hope she's in a good mood' Ginny replied

* * *

><p>Ollie walked along the Hogwarts Express, trying to find an empty compartment and her friends, whom she had promised to meet on the train. She spotted a small strawberry blonde haired girl lurking nervously in the hallway. 'Hi Dominique, are you ok?' she asked, the small Weasley.<p>

'Oh, hi Ollie' she replied. 'Tori, Millie and Teddy went off together and then Molly found her friends, so I don't know what to do'

'Well since I haven't been able to find any of my friends, why don't we go and find an empty compartment?' Ollie suggested to the shy girl.

Dominique was the quietest out of all the Weasley cousins, even quieter than little Lucy and was normally found at family gatherings curled up in her favourite armchair with a good book. Tori was the more outgoing sibling and Dom was the shy one.

They soon found a compartment and settled into a comfortable silence. Dom pulled out the latest book she was reading, a well thumbed copy of Little Women and Ollie sat next to the window, watching the countryside fly past. Suddenly the door of the compartment was flung open, causing its occupants to jump.

'Finally found you!' Phoenix exclaimed as she and Jon entered the compartment. 'We had nearly given up looking for you; trust you to be in the carriage furthest away from the prefects and the rest of our year. Ellie and Maisie are up with Archie and Dylan, a couple of carriages back'

'It's good to see you Jon. Did you have a good summer?' Ollie asked, interrupting her friend's ramble and standing up to give Jon a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Jon blushed and Phoenix raised an eyebrow, but Ollie did not know what was wrong with greeting Jon like that. They were just really good friends.

'Yeah, it was really good' Jon replied as he sat down. 'Sorry I was not able to meet up with you in Diagon Alley Kitty, I had had a big family gathering because Uncle Oliver has finally got engaged to Alicia. Oliver wants to know when your step mum will be able to start playing on the England team again'

'He called you Kitty!' came a small voice in the corner, which up to that point had been quite, watching the older teenagers with interest. 'It's just, I thought that no one was allowed to call you anything related Katarina, we had to call you Ollie' Dom said, clarifying her previous statement.

'Kitty's fine, it's just Katarina I really object to' Ollie replied before introducing the strawberry blonde eleven year old to her friends. 'Guys, this is Dominique Weasley, Dom this is Phoenix McQueen and Jonathan Wood'

'Hi' Dom said shyly

'Victoire's sister?' Phoenix asked and Dom nodded her head.

'She's nothing like her sister' Ollie added sensing that Phee was thinking about how mean Victoire had had been to her sister, Raven, last year. Raven had started to fancy Teddy Lupin. Victoire, who was a year younger than Raven, had had a crush on Teddy since her childhood and did not like the fact that he was getting all this attention. Teddy, being a typical teenage boy had not realised what was happening behind the scenes in Gryffindor tower.

'So what house are you hoping to be in?' Jon asked Dom

'I guess I would like to be in Gryffindor because everyone else in my family is in that house and I don't want to be different, though I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad, but it's up to the sorting hat' she replied.

Dom was a very perceptive eleven year old and she could tell that the seventh years wanted to discuss something without her presence. 'Thanks for looking out for me Ollie but I think I'll go and find some first years or Tori' she said collecting her things together.

'No problem Dom, come back anytime' Ollie replied, calling out after her as she left the compartment, leaving the three friends behind.

'Sweet kid' commented after the door had closed behind Dominique.

'Right, so what are we going to do about Austin?' Phoenix asked, completely changing the topic.

'Wait a minute, what's going on between Kitty and Mr-I'm-going-to-be-the –next-minister?' Jon asked, no knowing the latest developments in Ollie's love life.

'Austin has been a complete jerk to Ollie this summer' Phoenix stated

'What has he done?' Jon asked, angry on behalf of his friend.

Phoenix began to tell Jon about what was going on, or what was not going on between Austin and Ollie.

'Oh, that must've been awful' Jon remarked as Phoenix recounted what Ollie had told her about what happened when Austin had come round for dinner.

'It was rather awkward' Ollie replied as Phoenix continued with her rant against her second cousin.

'So let's get this straight' Jon said finally once Phoenix had finished. 'He did not take you on any romantic dates this summer because he was too busy, he acted like an arrogant prick when he came around for dinner, made you feel really awkward and uncomfortable and didn't even write to tell you that he had been made Head Boy?'

'Maybe he wanted to make in a surprise?' Ollie suggested timidly

'Kitty, he told Heather'

'Well, she is Head Girl'

'Ollie why haven't you broken up with him yet?' Phoenix asked seriously

'Because, I haven't had the time, and I have hardly seen him this summer. We were really good friends, we got on so well and he made me laugh.'

'Honey, have you noticed you're speaking in the past tense' Phoenix added gently.

'But he acted so differently last year when we were at school compared to how he has acted this summer' Ollie replied 'He was so nice last year' she said wistfully, remembering the dates to Hogsmeade, where he had made her laugh so hard her sides had ached how she had got butterflies in her stomach when they kissed under the old oak tree by the Great Lake. That Austin seemed to be a completely different one to the Austin she had spent a limited amount of time with in the summer. 'I'm just going to see what happens' she said finally 'I could just be over analysing our relationship'

'Honey, if he does not listen to your points of view and makes you feel bad about yourself, are you-'Phoenix was cut off by a knock on the compartment door. 'Well speak of the devil' she muttered as Heather and Austin entered the compartment.

'Ollie!' Heather squealed, pulling her best friend into a big hug. 'I missed you so much'

'I missed you too' Ollie replied. 'Look at you Head Girl, how was New York?'

'Well it was-'

'Heather you must be hungry after that long prefects meeting, do you want to go and track down the food trolley with me?' Phoenix asked

'Well-'

'I'm really hungry and you could you it as an opportunity to check on some of the first years and make sure the prefects are obeying your orders and doing all their jobs'

'I'll come with you' Jon added hastily, finally getting what Phee was trying to tell him.

'Do you want anything off the trolley?' Phoenix asked Ollie, as though it wasn't blatantly obvious what she was trying to do.

'Just a couple of chocolate frogs thanks, how about you Austin?'

'A pumpkin pasty would be great Phoenix' Austin said

'We'll catch up later' Ollie called out to Heather as she was dragged away by Phee and Jon, leaving the couple alone in the compartment.

'Well, that was awkward' Ollie commented as Austin sat down next to her.

'I do wish that Phoenix would act more maturely' Austin said snobbishly 'We're seventh years now'

'Tell me about it' Ollie replied. 'My Dad spent the better part of last week saying that he can't believe that I'm in my last year at Hogwarts'

'How is your father?'

'He's ok, working hard as usual in the Auror Department' Ollie replied. 'How was Luxemburg?'

'It was an incredible experience...' and so began Austin's monologue about how fabulous the Wizarding Youth Parliament had been '...Mr Shaklebolt said that I showed great promise and that I reminded him of the young Percy Weasley'

'It sounds like you had a good time, I just wish you had written to me more' Ollie stated.

'I'm sorry' Austin replied, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. 'I was just so busy, I didn't have the time.'

'But you had enough time to write to Heather, to tell her that you had been made Head Boy, but you did not have enough time to tell your girlfriend'

'Heather wrote to me so I replied'

'I had to find out from Phoenix!'

'Well if you had written to me telling me some more interesting things, like what was going on beck home in the news, I might have written more. You only told me about you and your family had been up to which wasn't very interesting. I wish you had more interest in politics.'

'Ollie was absolutely astounded by what she had just heard. 'I told you I had been made Quidditch Captain which to some people is as important as Head Boy.' She replied steadily, trying to remember why she liked this boy. 'You forget Austin that I spent my childhood surrounded by the intrigues of international politics and as a consequence I have grown to have rather a healthy dislike of politicians. You talk so much about international affairs, yet you can only speak English, whereas I am nearly fluent in three languages'

'Well it was hard to understand what was being said without a translator' Austin admitted grudgingly. 'I'm sorry, I've just got a lot going on at the moment, being Head Boy and sorting out an application for a position in the Department of International Relations next year and Mother's-'

'I know, we've all got a lot on at the moment. I've had the madness of the twins this summer and I've now got to sort out a new quidditch team, but please don't speak to me like that again' Ollie said calmly, not wanting to fight.

'I'm so sorry' Austin repeated, stroking her hair and pressing a tender kiss to her temple.

Ollie sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. This was the Austin that she remembered, she thought, trying to convince herself that everything was going to be ok.


	5. Chapter 4

'Firs' years, firs' years, this was' came Hagrid's distinctive gruff voice, calling out through the darkness.

There was a mad scurrying of small people wearing brand new robes, across in platform as they headed towards the half giant, who was holding up a lamp. Ollie tried to fight her way through the huge crowds of students on the platform, trying to find her friends, whom she had been separated from when they had stepped off the train. It felt as if she was swimming against the current, it had turned out that not only had she been sitting in the compartment furthest away from the rest of her year she had also he surrounded by new first years, who were now running across her to reach Hagrid.

'Oi, you lot' she said practising her quidditch captain's voice' you need to head towards the light'. There was a murmur of thanks and finally her path to the school carriages was clear. She looked around for her friends and Austin, but it looked as if they had already gone.

'Ollie over here!' came the voice of a blue haired boy poking his head out of the nearby carriage, waiting for the thestrals to pull it up to the school.

'Thanks Teddy' Ollie replied running over and hopping into the carriage. 'It seems as if my friends have abandoned me'

'Well I could hardly leave the new quidditch captain alone on the platform' he replied 'especially since I want a place on the team this year'

'I promise you that you will not get any special treatment Mr Lupin' Ollie remarked before laughing at Teddy's put out puppy dog face.

'He spent the whole train journey discussing how he was going to either going to bribe or blackmail you into letting him join the team' Millie, Teddy's purple haired sister said, alerting Ollie to the presence of the other people in the carriage, which had started to move. 'I told him that the only way for us to get on the team would be playing really well at the tryouts.

'You're going to try out?' Ollie asked the thirteen year old girl.

'Well Teddy and I are a team'

'Are you going to try out Victoire?' Ollie asked the blonde who had been sitting quietly next to her friend.

'Nah, as much as I like playing in the family games, I'm not good enough to even think about playing in the school team, especially since it is going to be really competitive this year, with so many positions open'

She was referring to the fact that only people left on the team from last year were Ollie, Jon and Raven, Phoenix's sister, everyone else had left and now Ollie faced the challenge of rebuilding the Gryffindor team back up its former strength.

Ollie was going to ask Molly, whether she was thinking about trying out but her question died on her lips as she caught sight of Hogwarts, rising proudly above the Black Lake, lit up by the moonlight. He friends had thought she was weird, well weirder than usual, when she had spent the carriage ride at the start of her fourth year, hanging out of the window, staring up at the school, like some awe struck first year. She had then reminded them that it was her first time seeing the school from that angle since the previous year she had arrived by tumbling out of the fireplace in the Headmistress' office.

'And I thought that the view from the lake was impressive' Molly murmured to herself, remembering what it had been like to travel across the lake last year.

'So will your Mum still be coming to teach defence this year?' Ollie asked Teddy and Millie, referring to her Aunt Dora's recent promotion to head of the Auror Department. In previous years Tonks had taught Defence Against the Dark Arts over the full moon period, to cover for her husband, Professor Lupin, Uncle Remus, who had to deal with his furry little problem.

'Ollie, Dad's not teaching this year' Millie stated

'What?' Ollie replied in shock as the carriage came to a stop. She wondered why her uncle had not told her this piece of news when they had gone round to the Lupins last Saturday.

'Dad's been asked to do a series of talks around the world as part of the International Wizarding Council's plans to stop the discrimination of werewolves and improve werewolf rights' Teddy replied as they climbed out of the carriage. 'He leaves next week along with Lavender Finnegan, the civil rights campaigner'

'Heather's Aunt and Hermione's friend?'

'I think so'

'So do you know whose going to be teaching Defence?' she asked as they entered the school, joining the crowds of students, pushing their way through the doors in their haste to get to the Great Hall and have dinner.

'I have no idea' Teddy replied apart from it's not going to be Mum because of her new responsibilities'

'Well we'll find out soon' Victoire said, over hearing their conversation.

With rumbling stomachs and with a great anticipation they entered the Great Hall, which was filled by people discussing the new members of staff.

Ollie looked up at the staff table. 'Oh you've got to be kidding me'

* * *

><p>'They're fast asleep' Harry told Ginny as he closed the door to the twin's new bedroom slowly.<p>

'We I'm not surprised, after the busy day they have had. They had to wake up early to take Ollie to the station and then we had to go back home and get ready for McGonagall's porkey' Ginny replied.

'So what do you think?' Harry asked, gesturing to the suite of rooms Professor McGonagall had given them in the staff quarters at Hogwarts.

'Well, it's going to take some time to get used to' Ginny replied 'being back at Hogwarts'

'But you are ok with this?'

'Harry, I know how much you've missed teaching-'

'Gin, are you ok with being back at Hogwarts?'

'Harry I'm fine, the rooms McGonagall has given us are lovely, thought it will be different from living at Potter House and I think being here will give me the chance to start practising quidditch again. I can ease myself back into the sport before I start enquiring about positions on any of the league teams.'

'Well we're all alone now' Harry whispered, walking towards his wife and wrapping his arms around her before leaning down and brushing her lips with his

'Harry!' Ginny exclaimed. 'The feast is going to start soon and we have to go down to the Great Hall'

'We could be quick' he replied with a teasing smile. 'The four poster bed in our room looks rather comfy'

'Later' Ginny replied kissing him quickly as Harry wrapped his arms tightly around her waist

Suddenly a wispy silver cat patronus formed in the room. 'The Hogwarts Express has arrived, please make your way down to the Great Hall' cam the Headmistress' distinctive crisp voice through the cat, which then faded into thin air.

'We're being summoned' Harry remarked to his wife as she wiggled out of his arms and looked in the mirror, straightening her clothes and making sure she looked respectable.

'Ribbons' Harry called out

'Yes Master?' the house elf replied as she appeared at her master's side, the pink ribbons around her ears matching her mismatch of pink coloured clothes.

'Can you watch Ariana and Nicholas for us?' Harry asked the elf.

'Yes' Ribbons replied with a bow of her head

'They're asleep and should stay asleep but just keep an eye on them whilst we are at the feast' Harry stated.

'Don't worry Master Harry; I is knowing what to do'

'I hate leaving them' Ginny said as they left their rooms and made their way down to the Great Hall.

'Ribbons is perfectly capable at looking after them' Harry replied, trying to reassure his wife. 'She used to look after Ollie for me when she was younger'

'I wonder how Winky is feeling about being back at Hogwarts' Ginny remarked as they ran down one of the large staircases, remembering at the last minute to miss one of trick steps. 'Especially since Kreacher is not here'

Kreacher the old, faithful, Black family elf and passed away last year and Harry, Ollie and Winky had all been extremely upset by his death. To Harry he had been one of his last links to Sirius, to Ollie Kreacher had been a constant presence throughout her childhood as he had never failed to look after his 'little mistress' and to Winky, he had been her faithful companion for nearly 20 years. Winky had been distraught that she was not able to nurse Kreacher back to health.

'Harry, Ginny, what are you doing here?' came the questioning voice of their old friend, the Herbology professor, Neville Longbottom.

Neville's outburst drew the rest of the staffs' attention towards the famous couple.

'Mr Potter is replacing Remus Lupin as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for this year' Professor McGonagall announced. 'Mrs Potter and their two children are joining him for the year'

'Sorry we were late Professor' Harry said apologetically 'we just thought that it would be better if we put the twins to bed first before we headed down, since they have had a long day'

'It's quite alright Harry' the Scottish headmistress replied 'I hope you have settled in ok'

'Yes thank you professor' Ginny replied

'So why didn't you tell me?' Neville asked Harry as they sat down at the staff table.

'Well I wasn't asked until last week, when they could not find anybody else to fill Lupin's place' Harry replied.

'How are Luna and Dawn?' Ginny asked as she finished her conversation with Madame Hooch. The old games mistress had asked Ginny whether she would be able to help out with quidditch and teach flying to the first years this year.

'They're good' Neville replied. 'Dawn's just about to start that Muggle Nursery that Ron and Hermione send Hugo to. Luna was a bit dubious at first but Hermione convinced her that it was a good idea and it would be nice for Dawn to make some more friends.

The rest of their conversation was cut off by the arrival of the students into the Great Hall.

'The First Years will be here soon' Professor Flitwick squeaked, climbing down off his high chair and heading out to wait for their arrival.

Harry turned his attention to the students, who were filtering through the large door. He caught sight of Ollie's friends, Heather and Phoenix, making their way to the Gryffindor table, whilst her boyfriend was already sitting alongside the Hufflepuffs. He wondered why Ollie was not with them. Then he saw his blue haired Godson making his way through the doors. Suddenly Harry's emerald eyes met his daughter's startling violet. Her eyes opened wide in shock before narrowing and hardening. Showing no more outward signs of annoyance, Ollie walked down the Gryffindor table until she reached her friends and slipped in next to Jon.

Harry knew that though on the outside Ollie appeared calm and indifferent to his presence on the staff table, on the inside she was fuming. He could tell by the way that her eyes, which were normally so expressive, had become closed and guarded. Harry watched as Ollie tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she talked to her friends as they waited for all the new first years to arrive and the sorting to begin.

Harry noted that his daughter's hair, which was normally a wild halo of curls, was now falling down her back in a straight black tamed mass. She looked so grown up. He remembered the tears and tantrums they had had when she was younger over her hair. Harry, being a boy, knew nothing about looking after a girl's hair. He did not know how to plait it or even put it up in a simple pony tail.

He sighed; Ollie had been such an adorable little girl, with bright violet eyes and dimpled rosy cheeks. He had loved it when she would run into his arms when he got home from a hard day's work. 'Papa!' she would squeal. 'Papa guess what I did today' she would say before launching into a blow by blow account of what she had done. Harry was quite saddened that now 'Papa' had become a half hearted 'hi Dad' and he felt that he knew nothing about what she was doing.

He had thought that he and Ollie had a close father and daughter relationship, a stronger bond that most people. They were each other's best friends. Harry could still remember Ollie crawling in next to him one night, scared by a nightmare and when she had appeared at the door of his room at the Burrow with a hot cup of tea and had encouraged him to go after Ginny.

He then realised that he and Ollie had hardly had any father daughter time together recently and he could sense that Ollie was starting to pull away. Ginny said that she was just growing up but Harry knew there was something else. Ollie had told him that she was happy was joining their family and she had be ecstatic at the birth of the twins but Harry knew she was slightly overwhelmed by the additions to the family and the change in all of their relationships.

When he had first noticed Ollie becoming more distant he had talked to Hermione, who seemed to know the answer to almost anything, and Luna, who knew Ollie as well as he did. Hermione had suggested that Ollie had something like, single child syndrome, whilst Luna had commented that maybe Ollie was still trying to adapt to having to share her father with Ginny and the twins.

Ginny noticed Harry's far away pondering look ad squeezed his hand under the table reassuringly as the first years finally entered the hall. 'It will be alright, don't worry' she whispered as Flitwick cleared his throat, unrolled a long scroll and the sorting started.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Thank you to everyone who is reading and alertingfavouriting/reviewing this story!. Please let me know what you though of this chapter! ~Cherry :)x**_


	6. Interlude I

'Just up here Beaky, we're nearly there' he said, leading the tried hippogriff up a steep mountain path towards a cave, high up in the mountain side. Both man and beast were tired after the long flight; they had been travelling for 24 hours and had had an exhausting day beforehand. Since fleeing from Hogwarts with Buckbeak, Sirius had flown as far away from the castle as possible, until the hippogriff had started to tire. He had not know where he was heading, only that he needed to find shelter for the night, so when he had spotted an incoming mountain range, he had directed Buckbeak to fly down, hoping to find a cave in which to spend the night.

The Homo revellio spell he cast showed up negative so he led the hippogriff into the darkness. Buckbeak collapsed from sheer exhaustion, tucking his large, feathery head into his wings and falling fast asleep. Barely keeping his eyes open, Sirius inspected the cave before transforming into his dog form and curling up beside the now snoring hippogriff. Just before he succumbed to sleep he caught sight of a pair of violet eyes staring at him in the darkness.

* * *

><p>The smell of cooking bacon, filled his nose, reminding him of the smell of the Hogwarts kitchens and the English Breakfast Lily used to cook him and the rest of the Marauders after a full moon. His stomach gave a loud groan as the smell continued to launch its attack on his nose. Reluctantly, not wanting to ruin the illusion he started to open his eyes. He realised that there was someone else in the cave that was standing next to Buckbeak. Sirius began to panic, it was probably a muggle, how was he meant to explain the animal to a muggle, he was probably breaking so many laws. Then he thought it was the Ministry of Magic, who had tracked him and fugitive hippogriff down. Trying to remain calm, he tried to tune in to what the person was saying the hippogriff. It was a lady's voice.<p>

'And if you want any food, you'll have to transform' the lady said, stroking Sirius behind one of his ears before walking back towards the fire and the frying pan which was just hovering above it near the entrance of the cave. Sirius crossed off the muggle theory with relief, but it left the question, what was a woman doing here, feeding his hippogriff?

The woman had blonde, almost white hair, which was in a plait wound around her head. As if sensing that Sirius was still staring at her, she turned to face the large black dog. 'Are you sure you don't want any food?' she asked in a slightly accented voice, an accent that Sirius couldn't quite identify, wearing a playful smile and waving a piece of bacon in the air.

Seeing the food being waved in front of him, was too much for Sirius as he could not resist temptation and leapt in the air, trying to grab the bacon in his drooling mouth.

'No you don't' the woman said moving the bacon away from the hungry black dog.

Sirius sighed and taking a risk he closed his eyes and transforming back to his human form. The young woman handed him a piece of bacon and a bread roll, which he devoured hungrily.

'Are you alright?' she asked, taking in Sirius' appearance. He was gaunt and bony, with long straggly unkempt hair and was still wearing his ripped and torn prisoner's clothes.

Suddenly Sirius raised his wand and pointed it at the woman, realising that he had been distracted by his stomach's quest for food and that this woman could be a threat.

'I don't mean any harm' she replied hastily, her arms held in the air. 'This is my home'

Sirius did not lower his wand and gripped it tightly

'Do you understand me?' she asked, when Sirius still failed to reply to her previous question. 'I heard you speaking to your hippogriff last night in English, so I assumed you were English'

'I am English' Sirius replied finally finding his voice.

'And what brings an Englishman and a Hippogriff to the Pyrenees?' the woman asked curiously

'What is a lady, as lovely as yourself, doing living in a cave?' Sirius replied with a smile, lowering his wand and turning on the old Black charm, to find out some information out of the mysterious woman.

'You wouldn't believe me' she answered.

'Try me'

'I'm Katerina' the woman said quietly, playing with a pendent around her neck, completely being taken in by the Black charm.

'Rina' Sirius said, trying out the name.

'KATE-rina' she stated, with emphasis on the 'Kat'

'Well I'm Sirius' he replied, grabbing hold of her hand and pressing a kiss to it. 'What can I do for the most gracious lady who has saved me and my hippogriff from starvation?'


	7. Chapter 5

Ollie slowly opened her eyes, unsure of her surrounding, then remembering she was in her dormitory in Gryffindor tower. She opened the rich red curtains from around her four posted bed, threw back the covers and got up, her feet coming into contact with the cold stone floor.

Using the light of the new day, which was filtering though the small window next to her bed, she could see that the rest of the dormitory's occupants were still asleep. Maisie and Ella were over on the other side of the room, whilst Phoenix was snoring quietly in the bed next to her. Ollie looked over to the other side of her, Heather's bed, to find that it was empty and looked like it had not been slept in. After a moment of alarm, worrying about the location of her friend, Ollie realised that since Heather was now head Girl, she had her own special rooms. The Head Boy and Girl had separate sleeping quarters, away from the other houses because it was only on rare occasions that the head Boy and Girl were from the same house.

She crept around her bed, picking up the fresh clean uniform the school house elves must've put out last night, before reaching the end of her bed to rummage in her trunk for her toiletries bag. She then headed towards the bathroom adjacent to the dormitory to get ready for the school day.

After having a quick refreshing shower and putting on her school uniform, Ollie stood in front on the mirror. Her wet hair hung in long dark tendrils down her back, so she quickly started to use a drying charm on it; however the charm only managed to turn her hair into a black frizzy mess. After attacking it with some of the strongest sleek-ease serum, it was finally tamed and Ollie, now looking vaguely respectable, pinned a potion of hair away from her face, leaving the rest of it loose.

Then she took a closer look in the mirror. Her eyes were still red, puffy and bloodshot from when she cried herself to sleep last night. She had not meant to cry, she had just run up the tower after the feast, ignoring all her friends, whizzed through the common room and up to her dormitory, where she had flung herself onto her comforting four posted bed. She had closed the thick red curtains to block out anything else and to give her some privacy.

She had not meant to start crying, she hardly ever cried, it just all came out. Everything that had been building up over the summer had exploded, catalysed by the day's events. She was so annoyed that her Dad had not told her that he was teaching at Hogwarts this year. It had been horrible to sit through the feast, listening to all her housemates discuss how amazing it was going to be to be taught by the legendary Harry Potter. It wasn't that he was a bad teacher, he was an extremely good one, but he was also her Dad and Ollie didn't want him being in the castle, being all over protective as she tried to enjoy her last year of school. She had already endured the whole Dad teacher at school thing once in her life already, when she was at Beaubatons. Admittedly her Dad had stopped teaching by then, due to his missions from the IDA, but she had been known as Professor Potter's daughter and that title had carried with it a series of expectations.

Ollie guessed that this was how Teddy and Millie felt having both their parents teach at the school, but both Uncle Remus and Aunt Dora, tried not to interfere in their children's school lives. On the other hand, Ollie knew her that her father would try and keep tabs on her. She just wished he would sometimes take a step back and stop suffocating her.

As she muttered some handy glamour charms under breath, disguising the unattractive redness around her eyes, she mused that their relationship had not always been this strained. Ollie remembered her childhood; it had just been Ollie and Papa, having adventures. Yes, Luna had also been around, but she would normally wander off and do her own thing, leaving Ollie and her Dad alone, only coming back to rescue them. Maybe that was it, Ollie thought as she applied the last touches to her makeup and headed out of the bathroom, she still was not used to sharing her father. She thought Ginny was great and she adored the twins, even though they could be exceedingly annoying, but sometimes she missed the time when she had her Dad's undivided attention. This summer, her dad had been busy at work and they had actually not spent as much time together as Ollie would have liked. Perhaps this was why he had taken this job, so he could spend some more time with Ginny and the twins. Noticing her friends were beginning to stir, Ollie headed out of the dormitory and out of the tower, hoping to catch an early breakfast, before the majority of the students were up.

* * *

><p>'Dada, Dada, wakey, wakey' came a high voice in Harry's ear, as a small body jumped on top of him.<p>

'Go away Ollie' Harry muttered under his breath as he rolled over to get away from the voice.

'Dada, I'm Arrie' the voice replied, a little dejectedly

Harry blearily opened his eyes, to find himself face to face with his red haired, hazel eyed daughter. 'Hello Ariana' he said, sitting up and wrapping his arms around his small daughter before starting to tickle her mercilessly.

'Dada stop!' Arrie squealed, wriggling in her father's arms.

This is what happens to little girls who wake up their fathers' Harry replied, continuing with his tickle attack.

'No, stop Dada!' Mama help me!'

'Ariana Lily, why are you making so much noise? I'm surprised that the whole castle has not heard you' Ginny said as she entered into the bedroom, carrying Nicholas, still in his teddy bear pyjamas, on her hip. 'Harry, you'd better stop that now' she stated 'you're nearly late for breakfast'

'Shi-sugar' Harry cursed, realising that there were young children in the room. He hastily got out of bed and put on the smart robes Ginny handed him.

'Are you coming?' he asked Ginny, as he picked up his wand from the bedside table, preparing to race down to the Great Hall.

'Harry, the twins have had me up since six, I had Winky bring breakfast up here for us nearly an hour ago. You better go, it's now coming up to eight and lessons start in an hour'

With that, Harry sprinted out of the door; he still had so much to sort out.

* * *

><p>'Potter, Green, can you please remember that some of us are trying to have our breakfast' came the stern voice of Professor Babbling, the ancient runes teacher and head of Hufflepuff<p>

'Sorry Professor' the couple muttered sheepishly as they broke apart.

When Ollie had entered the Great Hall, there had been hardly any students present as it was still quite early. However she was not surprised to see that Austin was already sitting at his house table, reading the Daily Prophet as he had his morning's pumpkin juice. She had sat down next to him and was completely take by surprise when he started kissing her, not that she minded. They had sat side by side having breakfast, when Professor Babbling had caught them.

'Potter'

'Yes Professor?' Ollie asked

'Professor Longbottom wants to discuss your timetable with you'

After giving Austin a quick peck on the cheek, Ollie headed over to her head of house and Herbology professor, who was handing out new timetables to the students as the Great Hall began to fill up.

'I hope I wasn't interrupting anything?' he asked

'No Professor' Ollie replied, blushing from embarrassment, she really hoped her Dad had not seen her.

'Your Dad is not down yet' Professor Longbottom said as if reading Ollie's thoughts.

'Professor Babbling said that you wanted to discuss my timetable?'

'Well, I know you expressed an interest in becoming a healer?'

Ollie nodded

'In the 7th year the school offers a healing course, however the problem for you is that it is at the same time as your NEWT level defence against the dark arts lesson'

'Oh'

'While the healing course is not a full NEWT, it still is looked on favourable upon by healer training schools, since it shows whether a student has the natural potential to become a healer if they are able to master the basics of healing'

'So, you are saying that I will have to drop defence?' Ollie asked, trying to take everything in.

'The healer schools require a minimum of four NEWTs in Charms, Potions, Herbology and Transfiguration, preferably to Outstanding level. You are already doing Arithmancy as an extra subject. The schools do not require Defence Against the Dark Arts. Of course if you want to continue with it, we could arrange for you to have private lessons with Madame Pomfrey'

'Is no one else in the same position as me?'

'Only you Ollie' Professor Longbottom replied. 'The other students, who want to be healers, are not doing defence, because they didn't need it. We only encouraged you to carry on with Defence because you are so good at it'

'I'll drop it' Ollie said, after contemplating the prospect of having private lessons with the fearsome Madam Pomfrey, during her free periods, which she needed to keep on top of work because she also had to sort out quidditch.

'Are you sure Ollie?' Professor Longbottom asked. 'We could wait and discuss this with your father when he comes down'

Up until this point Ollie had failed to register that her Dad was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and would therefore be teaching her this year. Well that definitely made up her mind. It would be horrible if her Dad had to teach her. No, Ollie though mentally chastising herself, she should make this decision maturely and for the right reasons, not just because her father would be teaching the subject.

'I'm sure Professor' Ollie said firmly. 'As much as I enjoy Defence I know I don't want a career in the subject, so it would be better for me to drop it and take up healing'

'Very well' Professor Longbottom said as he tapped a blank piece of parchment, on which the new time table magically appeared. 'Here you go' he said as he handed it to Ollie.

'Yes! Free Period!' Ollie exclaimed looking at what subjects she had that day.

'Luna's in greenhouse three at the moment, if you wanted to see her' Professor Longbottom told Ollie, before off to deal with another student.

* * *

><p>'Luna what are you doing here?' Ollie asked her godmother as she greeted her with a hug.<p>

'Neville may be nearly 33, but he doesn't mean he has stopped forgetting o pack things like a first year' Luna replied, gesturing to the pile of things sitting next to her. 'I've had to bring half of his teaching book and Trevor. I swear he is now trying to forget that toad on purpose, but I will not have that it hopping around my house'

Ollie just laughed. Luna loved animals, well all animals apart from Trevor, who had a habit of creating chaos wherever he hopped.

'Where is Dawn?' Ollie asked, looking around and listening out for the tell tell signs of the presence of the blonde haired mini Luna. Dawn was a carbon copy of her mother, bearing no resemblance to her absent father, who had abandoned Luna when she was pregnant.

'I dropped her off to play with Hugo at Molly's before coming here. She's nearly as bad as you were at that age, wanting to explore new surrounding, so I thought that Neville would not appreciate it if she messed up his incredibly neat office and greenhouse'

'Dad's teaching Defence' Ollie sated 'and Ginny is living here Ariana and Nicholas'

'I'll have to pop up and see them later' Luna replied calmly, as she received this piece of news. 'What's the matter Kitten?' she asked seeing her Goddaughter's face, seeing through the glamour charms Ollie had cast. Aunt Luna was annoying perceptive.

'It's just I wish that...' and Ollie began to explain to Luna what she was feeling. Luna sat there listening as Ollie voiced all her thoughts.

'You know what you need to do?' Luna asked, once Ollie had finished

Ollie shook her head.

'You need to give him a reason to treat you like an adult, since in Harry's mind you are still his little girl, whom he does not want to grow up. Act more maturely and show him that you can be trusted and explain to him what you are feeling. Both you and your father love to bottle up your emotions and it is not good for you! You should also probably tell him that you have dropped Defence against the Dar Arts and why, otherwise he will probably assume it is because of him' Luna advised

* * *

><p>'So Ollie's annoyed that Harry is teaching at Hogwarts this year?' Ginny asked, as she took a sip from her mug of coffee.<p>

'From what I gathered, I think she's more annoyed with the fact that he didn't tell her that you were all coming to Hogwarts this year and was therefore quite hurt and shocked by this, believing that her father did not trust her with the information.' Luna replied, sitting next to Ginny on the sofa. 'I mean from Ollie's point of view, it is fairly logical. She was, up until you and Harry got married, Harry's magical voice, which was built n a huge level of trust between the two of them and now to Ollie, it seems like he can't even trust her with the information that he is going to be teaching at Hogwarts' Luna said, watching the twins play together on the floor.

'I did try to make him tell her' Ginny said, but I think that Harry feared what her response would be, but now it has only been made worse'

'Ollie will get over it, especially since Harry's not going to be teaching her this year'

'What!'

'She's had to drop Defence Against the Dark Arts'

'Not because of Harry?'

'No, it clashed with the healing class she wanted to take'

'Does Harry know?'

'I think she was going to tell him this afternoon'

'Had Rolf been in contact at all since his father died?' Ginny asked, changing the subject

'Only a letter from Delphine, his mother, saying that he was now trying to communicate with the giants. She also sent Dawn a belated Birthday present.'

* * *

><p>Ollie stood at the door of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, catching her breath after her mad sprint from her Transfiguration class with Professor Swann. She was hoping to speak to her father before his seventh year class started, so she could then run down to the hospital wing for her first healing lesson, which she was really looking forward to.<p>

'Hey Ollie, you're early' her Dad said, as he saw his daughter standing at the classroom door. 'Why don't you come in?'

Ollie entered the room, but to her father's puzzlement did not head towards a seat or put her bag down. 'Dad, I'm not doing Defence this year' she said quickly, hoping to get it over and done with.

'What?'

'Dad I can't do Defence this year'

'Have you dropped it because I'm the one teaching it? Harry asked

'No Dad, because it clashes with Madam Pomfrey's healing class' Ollie replied.

'Can't you do it at another time?'

'Dad, I'm the only person who is affected by this clash.

'You could do what Hermione did and use a time turner' Harry suggested

'Firstly Dad, where am I going to get a time turner from, since they are still in such short supply? Secondly, I don't need Defence Against the Dark Arts to become a healer and thirdly I actually want a life'

'But Ollie, it is one of your best subjects'

'Dad, I enjoy duelling, I love duelling, but learning about all the dark creatures and curses is depressing and boring'

'Are you sure about this?'

'I'm sure' Ollie replied.

'Then go to your healing class' Harry said, pulling his daughter into a hug. 'I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was teaching this year' he whispered

'Its fine Dad' Ollie replied, wanting to escape from the awkward conversation which was about to ensue.

'But it's not; I should not have kept it from you. Ginny told me not to, but I didn't want spoil your last year at Hogwarts'

'Dad thanks for the apology, we can talk some other time, but at the moment I've got to run to the hospital wing so I'm not late' Ollie said, freeing herself from her father's grasp and running out of the classroom and down the corridor, knowing that the issues with her father, were not yet over.


	8. Chapter 6

**A BIG thank you to everyone who is reading, I'm so sorry that this story has been so slow, with lots of filler and not enough plot, but I promise that it is coming! There's a little hint towards the end of this chapter. Please review and let me know what you thought!**

**All the best ~Cherry :)**

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><p>'Well that's an interesting mix of people' Ollie remarked as she unpinned the quidditch tryouts signup sheet from the Gryffindor common room notice board and showed it to Jon, who was standing next to her.<p>

'Wait, I forgot to sign up!' he exclaimed, leaning over a poor first year, who was trying to do her charms homework when he had taken the quill out of her hand. 'Sorry about that' he said to the small girl as he returned the quill having scribbled his name at the bottom of the piece of parchment. Ollie as the new captain was insisting on making even the people who were on the team last year try out to regain their places.

'Am I too late?' asked a small voice by Ollie's elbow

Ollie looked down to see the small freckled face of Molly Weasley looking up at her, her blue eyes peering up at Ollie through her glasses as she played with a strand of her auburn hair nervously.

'You want to sign up Molly? Ollie asked, taken by surprise.

Molly nodded

'Are you sure Mol? You never really want to play in any of the family matches.

'Dad doesn't like quidditch' Molly replied 'he thinks I should be focusing on my studies, but I have been practising, I snuck out loads over the summer'

'Molly, quidditch is very dangerous, playing a game is very different from practising by yourself and you're' Ollie paused trying to find the right words 'you're the minister's daughter and there would probably be a national outcry and your father's wand at my throat if I let you get hurt'

'Ollie, I don't want to be known as the minister's daughter. I'm Molly and I want to be known as Molly. Sometimes I wish I could take a leaf out of your book and be known by my middle name, Juliette, instead, because I'm fed up of being compared to my father and grandmother'

Ollie could sympathised with Molly, having been names after three influential people, Katarina, after her mother who had given her, her life, Olwen, after her Aunt Luna's extraordinary mother and Molly, after Mrs Weasley who had practically been her Dad's mother when he was at school. Also having Harry Potter as her father, meant she knew where Molly was coming from.

'You'll be the youngest person trying out' Ollie told the 12 year old 'no other second year has signed up'

'I know I'm small' Molly replied gesturing to her petite frame, which she had inherited from her mother Audrey 'but please let me sign up, I'll be careful'

'Fine' Ollie replied, giving in, handing over the piece of parchment for Mollie to sign. Who was she to stop Molly from signing up to tryout form the team? It was Molly's own choice and if she felt like she had something to prove, well, Ollie thought that she should be given the chance.

'You handled that well' Jon commented as Molly walked back towards the group of second years who had been sitting in the common room watching the exchange between one of their classmates and the quidditch captain curiously.

'You think so?' Ollie asked. 'If it had been any other second year I would have probably told them that they probably didn't stand a chance against any of the bigger older students. I mean what was I thinking? Molly's going to get squashed out there, most people who have signed up are at least more than double her size.'

'You can't discriminate against someone because they are small' Jon replied. 'You were only a year older when you made the team'

'But I had had so much more experience than Molly has. She hardly ever plays in any of the family games'

'Don't worry, it will be fine' Jon replied calmly. 'Besides if anyone get's injured, you're doing a healing course!'

* * *

><p>'Are you ready?' Ginny asked Ollie as they stood in the middle of the quidditch pitch watching all the hopefuls arrive for the tryouts which were about the commence.<p>

'This is madness' Ollie replied, gesturing to the number of people who were trying out and also to the number of people who had gathered in the standing to watch. Ollie guessed that most of Gryffindor house was there along with several members of the other three houses. 'Why are you out here?' She asked Ginny.

'I'm meant to be supervising the proceedings since Madam Hooch has come down with a cold and I thought that since your Dad is looking after Arrie and Nicholas for the day that I could have a good fly afterwards. You'd better start' she commented looking at her watch. 'Good luck'

Ollie watched her stepmother make her way over to the stands, before turning her attention to the hopefuls who had now lined up. She caught sight of Teddy and Millie standing next to each other, there was her classmate Archie, who also looked like her was trying out for a beaters position. She could see Raven, Phoenix's younger sister in the middle of the group, looking confident because she had made the team last year. Ollie also spotted Jon standing next to and towering over Molly, who looked petrified, at the end of the row. She gave the small Weasley an encouraging smile.

'Right, you lot' Ollie said, projecting her voice over the chatter. Everyone became silent to listen to the quidditch captain. 'Today I have to find the people who both play the best and who can work well in a team. Quidditch is a team game and if Gryffindor are to win the cup this year, reclaim it from the Ravenclaws, we need a team made up the best players, who can work together to make something great. Just because you have been on the team before does not guarantee you a spot on it this year. This will be judged fairly, there will be no bias for age, gender, friend or family. Most importantly there will be no foul play and my word is final. Do I make myself clear?'

'Yes everyone chorused, gripping their brooms nervously

'Divide up into groups, we'll start with a simple flying test' Ollie ordered.

Soon Ollie was watching them fly around the pitch, weeding out the weak ones. In the end she was left with fifteen people trying out for the two chaser positions, 10 potential beaters, six keepers and only four seekers, but that was the hardest position to play.

She decided to find the beaters first and issued a series of tasks for the remaining hopefuls. These included trials of speed, agility and most importantly aim. When she had eliminated them one by one she was left with Millie and Teddy Lupin, who were grinning at her madly, when they realised that they were the last ones left.

'We did it!' they exclaimed, exchanging high fives, their hair flashing different colours before settling into the Gryffindor red and gold, in celebration.

Next Ollie decided to find a seeker in the only way possible; could they find and catch a golden snitch? She let the small golden ball fly out of her hand, its small wings flapping as it whizzed away. 'The first one who finds the snitch as a place on the team' she called out as the potential seekers started their hunt for the elusive golden ball. The snitch they were hunting was a practise snitch, meaning that it was slower than normal. This was because Ollie didn't want the tryouts to go on forever if the snitch was not caught and also she did not want it to get lost so this practise snitch could be summoned. Ollie and the spectators watched as the four players searched the sky. Suddenly one of them dived downwards sharply in pursuit of the snitch. Just before he hit the ground he pulled out of his dive, the golden snitch clasped tightly in his hand to the great applause of the crowd.

'Well done...' Ollie trailed off not knowing the boy's name

'David Campbell' he replied

'Welcome to the team' Ollie replied shaking his outstretched hand

Next Ollie moved onto the Chasers and Keepers. She got each potential chaser to aim at one of the keepers. It was no surprise to anyone when Jon reclaimed his position on the team, having blocked every single quaffle aimed at the hoops.

With so many chasers at the tryout Ollie knew she had to be ruthless. After a series of passing tests, she eliminated ten players, including her classmate Archie, leaving only five potential chasers remaining. There was Raven, who was still looking confident, hoping to follow Jon's example and regain her position on the team, two sixth years, who looked more like beaters, a fifth year girl and at the end of the line, small Moll Weasley, whose previous petrified look had now been replaced by a more determined one. To be honest, Ollie was surprised that Molly had made it this far, she had completely underestimated the red haired girl's abilities and she was looking forward to see how she would fare in the final tryout.

'The first two people to score five goals against Wood have a spot on the team' Ollie said. She could see the hopefuls pale slightly at this challenge, having just witnessed his flawless tryout. Ollie grabbed the quaffle and flew into the air, to demonstrate what she wanted the chasers to do. She stared at Jon, mentally preparing herself to dodge past him and put the red ball through one of the hoops. She took a deep breath; it was time to show why she had been made quidditch captain.

Ollie flew towards Jon, feinting left and right so as to put him on edge, since he had n idea where she was aiming. This as a move she had learnt from Ginny a couple of summers ago and it never failed to confuse the keeper. Although Jon had played against Ollie many times and had seen her use this move he could still not predict what she was going to do. Jon moved to block the left hoop and Ollie took him completely by surprise and aimed for the middle one, the quaffle soaring over his head and through the hoop. Jon looked annoyed that his friend had managed to put a ball past him; he had been determined not to let Ollie beat him.

Raven, having played against Jon before, was the first one to make the team. The final member was Molly. When her fifth shot had hit the edge of the right hoop before going in, she had frozen in shock, not believing that she had actually done it and made the team. Ollie smiled happily; she now had an excellent team, who had every chance of winning the quidditch cup.

* * *

><p>Minerva McGonagall looked out of office window. She could see the large body of Gryffindor students walking from the quidditch pitch back towards the school. She hoped that Ollie Potter had been able to put together a good team this year. She loathed awarding the cup to any house apart from Gryffindor. Even though she was the headmistress and was therefore meant to be impartial, she was still fiercely loyal towards her old house.<p>

She turned her attention back to the papers on the desk. Although it was the weekend she still had work to do. In amongst some of the clutter in the office, she had discovered a box of Albus', hidden at the bottom of one of the cabinets. Even though he had been dead for over fifteen years, she was still discovering things which had belonged to him, concealed in various nooks and crannies around the office.

The papers in the box seemed to be detailing the witches and wizards who were international sympathisers and informants of the Order of the Phoenix, from both the first and second Wizarding Wars. These people were not, it seemed full members of the Order, but people who provided it with help and information.

Minerva peered through her glasses, perched at the end of her nose, as she scanned the documents, until she came across someone who looked vaguely familiar. The name run a series of bells in her head as she held up the photograph attached to the document. The likeness was uncanny and she definitely needed to show it to Harry.


	9. Interlude II

'You're good with animals' Sirius commented as Rina fed Buckbeak another rat. He remembered how she had been able to easily find an owl so he could let Harry, his Godson, know that he was safe. Admittedly he had been a bit dubious about using the owl because it seemed rather hyper active, but Rina had assured him that it would do the job. He just was hoping that Ron, Harry's friend liked him.

'When I was growing up, there was a herd of wild hippogriffs by the shore of the lake near our home. I used to race down the hill after my lessons with my mother and governess to watch them grazing near the lake. It was my own secret safe place, where I could hide from French lesson, needlework, behaving like a dutiful daughter and learning household spells. I would watch them fly through the sky and wish I was able to do that'

'Have you ever flown on a hippogriff?' Sirius asked as Rina continued to stroke Buckbeak's feathers. The Hippogriff gave a little sigh of pleasure as Rina found his favourite spot.

'I never was able to, I preferred to watch them from afar' Rina replied 'well until I was forbidden from seeing them'

'What happened' Sirius asked curiously, Rina had never opened up this much about her life before. Sirius found it strange that he was able to trust this woman, who he knew so little about, so much. He guessed it was because they were in similar circumstances, both running away and hiding from either something or someone. She had not yet told him why she was living in an isolated cave in the Pyreenes, only venturing out to find food in the villages at the bottom of the mountain or travel up to the spring nearby to wash. Sirius knew that he should probably move on, go further away, just in case the Ministry came looking, however every time he made plans to leave, he could not bring himself to do it, to leave RIna behind and only have a hippogriff for company. He liked having someone to talk to after his years of solitude in Azkaban.

'I shared my secret place with only one person, my best friend Tatiana' Rina replied. 'She was the daughter of our nearest neighbours, a wizarding family who lived the other side of the mountains, but in Siberia what was the closest people lived to us, unless you count the muggle peasents'

'You're Russian?'

'Hadn't you realised?' she asked with a small smile. 'I can speak English well, but I'm not completely accentless, much to my mother's dismay. Anyway' she said continuing with her story. 'Tatiana lived with us because her mother had died and her father, one of my father's closest friends, was away on business a lot. We would escape from having a lecture from my mother about the importance of learning how to run a household, by running down to see the hippogriffs. As we got older, we used the secret spot as a place to practise spells away from by parent's gaze, using by older brother's spell books, which I had stolen from his room. My parents did not believe that girls should learn spells beyond household ones but I was so bored.'

'One day as we were watching the hippogriff, taking a break from duelling with each other, my brother, Ivan, appeared. He saw the hippogriffs and thought that it would be fun to ride one, something to boast to his friends back at school about. However he did not know that you have to bow and show a hippogriff respect before you near it. The hippogriff attacked him, slicing his arm. Tatiana screamed, Father came rushing down from the house, rescuing Ivan and killing the poor creature. After that mother forbade me from going down to see them because they were two dangerous but it did not matter, the whole herd disappeared one night after that one was killed, probably because they realised that it was not safe for them anymore'

'How did Ivan find you?'

'I thought that he had followed us down to the lake but it turned out that Tatiana had developed a crush on him and had told him in order to gain his trust and become closer to him. I was so upset by this betrayal, she was my best friend, I refused to talk to her and she left our house to go back and look after her father soon after.'

'What's the date today?' Sirius asked, trying to change the subject, seeing that Rina was clearly upset. He knew what it felt like to be betrayed by a friend.

'I think it's around the end of July, you've been here for about four weeks now' She replied, wiping her eyes.

'It's nearly my Godson's birthday' Sirius commented

'How old is he going to be?'

'Fourteen'

'Really?' Rina asked in amazement 'I thought he was younger'

'His parents had him young' Sirius replied remembering laughing at the look on James' face, when Lily had told him that she was pregnant. It had not been the right timing, they were both still young and there was a war going on, one which they were fighting in, but baby Harry had been a gift. He had been a light, brightening up the darkest of days with his babyish giggling and reason for them all to keep fighting.

'My sister would've been eighteen in June' Rina said sadly before standing up and heading out of the cave, leaving Sirius wondering why she had used the past tense.


	10. Chapter 7

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I hope you found it interesting. I found this chapter particularly hard to write, but as they say, conflict creates character...**

* * *

><p>Her damp, dark hair was falling, loose down her back as she made her way to the Heads' Rooms. 'Password?' the image of a hog asked as she reached the portrait which concealed the entrance to the rooms.<p>

'Shaklebolt' Ollie replied. Trust Austin to name the password after his idol. As the portrait swung open, she walked along the passageway it revealed until she was greeted by the sight of Heather sprawled over one of the armchairs near the crackling fire.

'Hey Ollie, did you have a good practice?' Heather asked as she greeted her friend, looking over the top of her Arithmancy textbook.

'It was really encouraging' Ollie replied 'the team is finally coming together though we got a bit soaked'

'Do you want to talk to Austin?' Heather asked

'Yeah'

'Well I'll leave you two alone' Heather said, picking up her book and heading up to her own room. 'Austin, Ollie's here' she yelled as she passed the Head Boy's room, leaving Ollie waiting awkwardly in the common room.

'Decided to take time out of your busy schedule to spend time with your boyfriend' Austin stated, coming down the stairs

'I'm sorry' Ollie replied apologetically 'but we've got our first match of the season in two weeks time and we still need lots of practice'

'I just wish you wouldn't spend so much time with Wood, he clearly likes you'

'What! Me and Jon, he's just one of my friends and the keeper on my team; I can't not spend time with him, that's absurd!'

'I keep on seeing you laughing together'

'You're not jealous, are you Austin?' Ollie asked

'I know that you kissed him' Austin stated accusingly, getting to the heart of the matter.

'On the cheek, Austin!' Ollie replied angrily, wondering how Austin had found out about how she had greeted Jon on the train. 'We're just friends; I like Jon as a friend nothing more'

'I just don't like you two spending so much time together, who knows what you could be doing behind my back'

'How do you think I feel, when you spend so much time with Heather, you even share a set of rooms'

'We have to spend time together; we're head boy and girl'

'And Jon is my number two' Ollie retorted

'You can hardly compare being Head Boy to quidditch' Ollie sighed, feeling very frustrated. She hated arguing but Austin's pompous, self righteousness, was starting to really grate on her. What gave him the right to be annoyed at her for not spending enough time with him, when he had ignored her for most the summer? She had enough to deal with, her school work and quidditch to try and deal with a moody boyfriend. Phoenix's words from the beginning of the year came back to her '_I always told you he was weird'_ she had said when describing how ambitious and ruthless Austin was.

'I'm sorry for lashing out at you' Austin said apologetically, sounding completely different from the Austin who had been previously arguing with her. It was like it was a different person, the Austin she remembered, the Austin she had fallen in love with. But Ollie knew that this was the final straw, she couldn't and shouldn't put up with being treated like this anymore. Situations like this had happened far too many times now and Ollie had had enough.

'Austin, this is not working any more' she said, escaping from the hug he was trying to give her.

'What isn't working?' he asked as he approached her once more with a confident smirk on his face before pressing his lips to hers.

'Get off me!' Ollie exclaimed, pushing him away 'we're over!'

'We're not over, not until I say we are' he replied, his dark brown eyes flashing dangerously. He grabbed hold of her arm, just above her wrist and pull Ollie towards him.

'Austin, please stop' Ollie asked, struggling in his grasp

'You can't break up with me' he replied 'I need you'

'Austin, you don't need me' Ollie replied scathingly 'you never needed me'

'But I do need you' he pleaded

'Why Austin?' Ollie pressed

'I need you for your connections' Austin said angrily, shoving Ollie against the wall. 'I need you name and your father's'. Looking and Ollie's face which was torn between disgust and horror as he continued to tell her how he was using her. 'Why else do you think I went out with you? Because you're pretty? You have no interest in politics, you didn't even get Head Girl and you spend most of your time playing that useless sport than being with me'

'You can talk' Ollie replied, trying to free herself, but to no avail as Austin continued to pin her up to the wall. The back of her head throbbed from when she had hit it when she had been pushed into the hard wall. 'You spent most of the summer not with me, your girlfriend, but with Kingsley Shaklebolt!'

'Kingsley Shaklebolt is a great man'

'Kingsley Shaklebolt was corrupt; he had let power get to his head and nearly compromised the Ministry!' Ollie replied heatedly still struggling. She was now really worried, she didn't like the look in Austin's eyes. Ollie knew that she needed to get out – if only she could get to her wand!

'I mean, who would like you, Ollie Potter?' Austin asked trailing kisses down her jaw line, nipping and sucking around her neck, lower and lower, mocking her. 'A small girl, with weird eyes and questionable heritage'

Ollie's eyes flashed with anger as he insulted her family. She stopped struggling, trying to plan a way to get her wand out of her pocket, wishing she could perform wandless magic like her father. Austin was still continuing his assault.

Suddenly there came the sound of someone coming down the stairs. 'I heard shouting, are you alright?' came Heather's anxious voice before catching sight of Ollie and Austin

The moment of Austin's distraction enabled Ollie to kick Austin hard in the groin. 'Keep your filthy hands off me' she shouted as she pushed him away, reaching for her wand and sending some interesting curses in his direction before running in shock out of the Head's rooms, leaving Heather to deal with Austin. Ollie ran in a bleary haze through the candle lit corridors, running on autopilot not knowing where she was heading only that she needed to get as far away from Austin as possible. Finally she reached a familiar door, which she knocked on urgently.

'Harry's busy overseeing detention right no- Ollie what's wrong?' Ginny asked, opening the door and catching sight of her step daughter. Ollie's hair was in an absolute sate, tears were running freely out of her eyes, down her pale cheeks, there were suspicious marks on her neck and the top of her school blouse was undone. Still not realising she was crying, Ollie hurled herself into Ginny's arms.

Ginny led the black haired girl over to the sofa and sat down, her arms still wrapped around Ollie, stroking her hair soothingly, waiting for her husband's daughter to tell her what was wrong. Ginny was really perplexed; she had never seen Ollie act like this before. Finally Ollie raised her head from where it had been buried in Ginny's shoulder and her red rimmed violet eyes met Ginny's comforting brown.

'Austin' Ollie muttered sadly

'What happen?' Ginny asked, wondering what sort of relationship trouble Ollie had gone through to make Ollie into a weeping mess. After some hesitation Ollie began to tell a horrified Ginny what had happened.

'You must tell someone' Ginny said finally 'if you had not managed to escape it could have led on to something much worse'

'I can't he's Head boy'

'Ollie sweetie, I don't care if he was the ruler of the universe, you need to tell someone, preferably McGonagall, he should not be Head boy'

'I can't, he'll just come after me again...'

'Well, at least tell your father' Ginny suggested

'Please don't, please' Ollie begged earnestly, not wanting her Dad to get involved and to know how weak, foolish and stupid she had been believing that Austin actually cared about her and not being able to defend herself from his attack. She should've heeded her friend's warnings, but it was her own fault, she had fallen completely fallen for his charms.

'Mama, can't sleep, nightmare, story?' came the small, sleepy voice of Ariana Potter, who toddled into the room dragging her beloved toy rabbit, Babbity, behind her as she looked for her mother. 'Ollie story?' she asked seeing her older sister next to her mother on the sofa. Ollie told the best stories.

'Arrie poppet, Ollie's tired-'

'Come on Arrie, I'll tell you a story to banish the bad dreams' Ollie said, bending down to pick up her red haired younger sister and toy rabbit.

'Are you sure Ollie?' Ginny asked as Ollie walked, carrying Arrie back into her bedroom.

Ollie nodded, hoping that by telling Arrie a story to get rid of her bad dreams it would help put what she just experienced out of her head.

* * *

><p>'Sorry Ginny, detention over ran' Harry said as he entered their suite of rooms giving his ever patient wife a kiss.<p>

'Shhhh!' Ginny hissed back at him, gesturing to the children's bedroom 'have a look' she whispered.

As Harry poked his head around the twin's bedroom door he was greeted by a surprising sight. His eldest daughter, who should be in her dormitory, was lying on her back, though still fully clothed on his younger daughter's bed. The said younger daughter was curled into her older sister's side, one hand clutching her rabbit and the other, stretching high above her head to grab some of Ollie's loose black curls. His son, whose bed was the opposite side of the room, was sleeping the other side of his older sister, sucking his thumb contentedly. All of them looked very peaceful; especially Ollie, who looked more at peace and relaxed, than she had done in a long time. Harry walked over to them and after conjuring a blanket and tucking them all in he kissed their foreheads' tenderly before quietly exiting the room.

* * *

><p><em>So what did you think, was it really bad? Don't worry Austin will get his just deserts.<em>

_Please review!_

_See you next week ~ Cherry :)_


	11. Chapter 8

'That was a very interesting talk Mr Lupin' moustached man commented in a slightly accented voice as he approached Remus Lupin, who had just finished giving an assembled group of witches and wizards a talk about life as a werewolf. Remus looked up from packing away his notes, at the man addressing him.

'Ivan Volkov' the man said, holding out his hand which Remus shook

'I'm glad you found it informative, Mr Volkov' Remus replied.

'Oh I've always had an interest in magical creatures' Mr Volkov replied, gesturing to the scar on his face which ran down the left side of his face.

'I hope you didn't get that from a werewolf' Remus joked

'No an unfortunate encounter with hippogriff' the man replied

'Ah' Remus remarked, remembering the incident that had happened between Draco Malfoy and a hippogriff, when he was teaching at Hogwarts.

'I found what you said about the children of werewolves not being ones themselves very interesting'

'Well we're still looking into it' Remus replied 'there aren't that many out there'

'We have some in Russia' Mr Volkov stated 'but since the werewolves live in separate colonies away from the other wizarding communities it's hard to tell, though you mentioned that you had children'

'Yes, two, a boy and a girl'

'And they are not werewolves?'

'No' Remus answered 'though I was very concerned that they would be, but it seems that they inherited their mother's characteristics then mine. They only get slightly crotchety around the full moon, which is a common trait shared with people who have been attacked by a werewolf not on a full moon, like Mrs Finnegan' Remus said referring to Lavender who had been attacked by Greyback at the battle of Hogwarts and who had organised this series of talks.

'Is that common?'

'Not any more, though it was when Fenrir Greyback was around'

'Ah yes, I remember hearing about him, more wolf than man. I think he tried to convert some of our werewolves over to his ideas but my team at the Kremlin got him out of the country'

'So you're a politician'

'I'm afraid I am' Mr Volkov replied 'Russian Minister for international affairs, and you Mr Lupin?'

'Normally I'm a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, though my Wife teaches my classes over a full moon.'

'One thing's still puzzling me Mr Lupin, you said your children inherited their mother's characteristics which could be why they are not werewolves, but what big thing could they have inherited, I mean I know that children can resemble their mother, my daughter has inherited her mother's curly hair, but how would that stop the wolf gene?'

'Well, have a look' Remus replied, reaching into his robe pocket and extracting the photo he kept in his wallet. 'We don't know if it's because they are metamorphmagi that they did not become werewolves'

'That's absolutely fascinating' the Russian politician remarked, looking at the moving photograph of a woman and three children, well teenagers smiling at the camera, closely. 'That's not you daughter?' he asked pointing at the girl on the end, who was the only one whose hair was not changing colour, though she did have a very interesting eye colour, they looked as if they were violet.

'Oh, that's my Goddaughter Ollie' Remus replied as Mr Volkov handed back the photograph and he slipped it back into his pocket.

'Well I mustn't keep you' Mr Volkov said looking at his pocket watch which was attacked to a long gold chain with a wolf engraved on the top. 'Thank you for talking to me'

'Not at all, thank you for listening'

* * *

><p>Remus' Goddaughter, well unofficial one, since he had been too weak recovering from the final battle to attend her naming celebration, was currently in the midst of a brutal quidditch match. Whoever thought that Hufflepuffs played nicely was hugely mistaken, Ollie thought as she dodged the bludgers aimed at her left right and centre, As a consequence of this, as well as the fact that it was less than optimum Autumn weather, Ollie just wanted her seeker to catch the snitch so the match could be over. This was probably the first time she wanted to stop flying be to be honest she was not in the mood.<p>

Ollie knew she was the reason why the Hufflepuff team was playing so viciously today and why the bludgers continued to whizz past her ears as she passed the quaffle to her team mates. Apparently the Hufflepuffs took it as a direct insult against their house that she had dumped their most beloved Hufflepuff, Austin, the Head Boy. If only they knew true circumstances surrounding their break up, Ollie mused, but they didn't. The Hufflepuffs, along with the rest of the student body and staff, bar Ginny, only stuff of rumours, hearsay and gossip about how they had broken up. Even her father didn't know the whole truth and Ollie was glad that it found it was too awkward to ask why. She had spent the rest of the weekend in Ginny and her Father's rooms, playing with Ariana and Nicholas, whom she had found that she had missed loads. She hadn't been hiding; she had just been spending some needed quality time with her family and also psyching herself up to facing the whole student body.

When she had finally emerged from the safety of her Dad's rooms, she had been greeted by a confused Jon, a sympathetic Phoenix and a hostile student body, especially from the black and yellow wearing members. Apparently it had managed to get out that she broken up with Austin and then added insult to injury by hexing him heartlessly. Ollie had suspected that it was her so called best friend, Heather, who had started telling everyone what she had seen, which had only been the tail end of her and Austin's argument. Though Ollie knew that she blame Heather for everything, it was clear that she was completely under Austin's charismatic spell. Austin was making out that she was the bad one, the vindictive bitch, while he was totally innocent in all of this.

This had made Ollie all the more determined to win this quidditch match. She was fed up of being shunned by her all the people at school for the last two weeks who were now whispering behind her back comparing her to her more infamous relatives and warning each other to stay away from her because of her violent tendencies.

Ollie was jogged out of her thoughts by the sight of a quaffle heading straight towards her. She caught the red ball thrown at her by Molly and began to weave in and out of the opposing team's players, with it tucked safely under her arm. She pulled up sharply, causing the two Hufflepuff players who had been heading towards her, to collide and taking advantage of the keeper's momentary distraction Ollie threw the quaffle through the unguarded middle hoop, scoring her fifth goal of the match. Gryffindor where now in the lead, but only just and as she flew back into formation she watched as David, the Gryffindor seeker, continued to search the sky for a glimpse of gold.

After she had triumphantly scored her eighth goal, bring the total scores to 110-80 to Gryffindor, the game still showed no signs of ending anytime soon. Ollie could see that her team was starting to get tired, Raven had just missed an easy shot and Teddy's aim with his beater's bat was starting to get sloppy. Just as she was about to call time out, so the time could pause, regroup, and perform some impervius charms, since it was now starting to rain, David sudden dived downwards sharply. This action was they mirrored seconds later by the Hufflepuff seeker, who followed after him in hot pursuit. Ollie watched, fingers crossed as David edged closer and closer towards the tiny winged golden ball. He reached out his hand and snatched it causing Ollie to let out the breath she hadn't realised she had been holding. They had done it! She caught sight of Austin's face in the crowd and gave a satisfied smirk. He was only in the stands because it was his duty as head boy to put in an appearance, but really he hated the sport and now looked extremely uncomfortable surrounded by upset Hufflepuff supporters.

The Hufflepuff players were not much happier and to Ollie it looked as if the keeper was about to throw a tantrum, upset over his poor performance during the match. In contrast her team looked positively ecstatic, flying around the pitch in a celebratory lap to the great roar of the crowd.

'Look out Molly' came Millie's voice over the crowd, behind Ollie. As the captain Ollie was at the front of the V shape they were currently flying in. She turned around to see twelve year old Molly blissfully unaware that there was a bludger heading towards her, one that the beaters had failed to capture. Some of the spectators screamed as the ball approached and just before it collided with the youngest member of her team, Ollie took a deep breath before recklessly flying backwards to knock Molly out of the bludger's way.

Ollie heard screams and a sickening crunch, followed by a searing pain in the side of her chest. Her vision blurred, she could hear her teammates' anxious cries as she slid off her broom, the wind rushing through her hair as she plummeted towards the ground.


	12. Chapter 9

As a bell rang out loudly, little Katarina rolled over in her small narrow bed, being careful not to wake up her best friend Sylvie who was sucking her thumb next to her, placing her small hands over her ears, in an attempt not to wake up.

'Katarina!' came a stern voice from high above her, which the small black haired girl promptly ignored, her eyes still firmly closed. 'Katarina' the voice repeated, although this time louder whilst a pair of hands shook her. 'Get up now!'

Katarina reluctantly opened to her eyes, raising her hand try and block the beam of sunlight which was now hitting her in the eyes. She could just make out the face of Marie peering over her crossly. 'Get up now, get dressed quickly, it's almost time for inspection' the older girl said in angry, rapid French 'as usual you are the last to get up'

A short time later, Katarina found herself standing at the end of a long line of girls as they were inspected by the nun in charge of the dormitory, an old dragon called Sister Marie Thérèse. She marched in front of them making sure they looked respectable before being allowed to have breakfast. Katarina knew that she was now a big girl, so she had to have meals with everyone else but she missed the friendliness of the nursery where she had been before, but she knew not to complain, because she was not a baby.

Her small mind wandered as the Mother Superior said the grace, thanking the Lord for the food that was in front of them. Katarina looked down at the bowl of porridge in front of her and wished that this Lord, which the Nuns in their crisp black and white habits always talked about, would provide a more interesting breakfast. Katarina could tell from the bell which was ringing loudly that it was Sunday today, which meant that they would at least get something interesting for dinner. She held on tightly to Marie's hand as they were led out of the orphanage in twos, marching down the village lane, towards the small church.

Katarina liked the way the light turned pretty, different colours as it came through the stain glass windows and how each window depicted a different story, but she didn't like the way the horrid smelling stuff the priest waved around caused her to cough, much to the disapproval of the nuns.

She knew that her mother was buried somewhere in the small graveyard outside the church. Sister Marie Joseph had told her this when she had asked why she lived in the orphanage. She had been told that her mother had died giving birth to her, which was why she was under the care and protection of the nuns and lived with twenty or so other girls ranging from babies to the age of sixteen. Katarina knew she shared the same name as her mother and what her father's name was because it was apparently engraved on the back of the pendent her mother had given her, the one she always wore around her neck. She knew that there were words on the back of the pendent she just couldn't read them.

As her legs swung backwards and forwards, dangling off the edge of the pew and the priest standing in the front, dressed up in his robes, droning on in a language she could not understand, Katarina reached under the collar of her itchy best Sunday dress she was wearing, a hand me down blue thing which made change from her normal brown, and pulled out the pendent from around her neck. She felt the rough crystal embedded in the middle of the smooth silver and watched as the light coming through the church's windows danced across the surface of the crystal, creating pretty patterns.

Her hand stung, when Marie slapped it sharply, giving Katarina a disapproving look causing the small girl to meekly tuck the pendent back under her dress. She caught sight of Françoise smirking at her from along the pew, having been watching Katarina with interest.

'Katarina's in trouble, Katarina's in trouble' Françoise taunted, pulling on Katarina's black curls, as they walked back along the street backtowards the orphanage.

'Ouch!' Katarina exclaimed, whirling around to face her attacker. 'Go away Françoise'

'I saw you playing with that thing around your neck during Mass, let's have a look' the older girl said as she lean down to try and grab the pendent which hung around Katarina's neck.

'Don't touch it!' Katarina replied angrily, slapping Françoise's hands away.

'Ow, that hurt' Françoise replied, pulling Katarina's hair again in retaliation.

'The necklace was from my mother' the smaller girl replied as she gave Françoise a pick of her own medicine, grabbing a large fistful of the larger girl's precious blond hair and giving it a hard yank.

'Let's see it then' Françoise said reaching forward and this time successfully grabbing hold of the pendent.

The silver chain dug into Katarina's small neck as Françoise lifted it up so she could read the inscription on the back. 'Katarina je t'adore' she read off the back. 'Well isn't that sweet' Françoise commented.

'Leave me alone Françoise' Katarina said angrily, fed up with the older girl's taunts. The pendent was her special secret and she did not want anyone else to know about it.

'Is your father dead like your mother?'

'I don't know' Katarina replied, trying to walk away from Françoise, who kept following her.

'If he's alive, why doesn't he come and find you?'

Katarina did not reply but kept her head down and kept on walking, wishing that Françoise would just go away.

'Does he know that you actually exist, how are you so sure that you weren't a mistake? Does he love you?'

'Of course he does' Katarina replied, clutching the pendent tightly, the crystal in middle digging into the palm of her hand as she tried to control her anger.

'Who would love you Katarina? You are a freak' Françoise taunted, pushing all of Katarina's buttons, making her even angrier. 'You're a freak, with weird eyes and a weird name'

'Take that back Françoise' Katarina shouted, attracting the attention of everyone around them. She was extremely self conscious about her odd violet coloured eyes and the way her name, Katarina stood out amongst the Maries and Lucies and other soft sounding French names, which everyone else in the orphanage seemed to have.

'Freak, freak'

Katarina could not take it anymore. The hurt and anger was building up inside her and she felt like she was going to explode. Suddenly, her violet eyes flashed dangerously and there was a loud bang. She watched as Françoise was thrown back across the street, landing in a crumpled heap, whilst she just stood there in shock, wondering what had just happened.

'Katarina, Françoise, what do you think you girls are doing, disgracing yourselves like that?' came the stern voice of Sister Marie Clemence. 'Get up girl' she said to Françoise before grabbing hold of both of the girls' shoulders firmly and marching both Katarina and Françoise back to the orphanage to be dealt with.

* * *

><p>Katarina lay on her bed, staring at the wooden boards which made up the ceiling, trying to block the hurtful things Françoise had said to her out of her head.<p>

'My father loves me' she whispered to herself as a small tear trickled down the side of her face. Katarina closed her eyes, sinking into one of her favourite daydreams, where her father or some other unknown relative came and whisked her away from the orphanage and took her somewhere safe. She began to cry harder, curling up into a small ball.

In her distress her hands reached around her neck, searching for her pendent, only to discover that it was not there. She shot up in alarm before remembering that Sister Marie Clemence had confiscated it from her when she had been sent back to the dormitory in disgrace so she could reflect on her actions, whilst the nun tended to the cuts and bruises Françoise had sustained, when she had been thrown across the rough street.

Katarina's small fingers wound around the wooden beads of the rosary Sister Marie Clemence had left in the pendent's place. The wooden beads felt foreign under her fingers as she clutched it, hoping it would provide the same feeling of comfort and security that her pendent brought.

As she lay there, in solitude, she tried to distract herself by playing with the beads and recounting to herself the story Marie had told her the other day about a knight and a Dragon but it did not help, as the seeds of doubt Françoise had sown in her mind continued to plague her.

Katarina worried about how everyone might think she was a freak after what happened with Françoise. She had no idea how she had been able to push the older girl half way across the street. Was that why her father did not come and find her, because he knew that she was weird ad wanted nothing to do with her?

Later that night, when everyone else was asleep, Katarina clutched her pendent which had been returned to her by Sister Marie Clemence on the condition that she kept it hidden so others would not be tempted by it, close to her chest. She couldn't sleep as the bad thoughts invaded her mind and she felt so alone. When she had been led into dinner, she had been greeted by hostile gazes. Even Sylvie, whom she considered was her best friend in the orphanage, had greeted her coolly.

'Please Papa come and find me' she whispered into the darkness 'Please come and love me'

* * *

><p><strong><em>So what do you think?<em>**

**_If you have just read this and are now wondering what on earth you have just read. Ollie's real name is Katarina, she just goes by Ollie because when she was younger it was easier to say. This chapter is set when she was living in the Orphanage before Harry and Luna found her. If you have any more questions, have a quick look at The Promise: Chapter 3, or leave me a review with your question and I'll get back to you ASAP._**

**_I've had a really busy week this week, revising for some really important exams and it hasn't been helped by the distraction Pottermore has brought, though after all the hype I was a bit disappointed, the best part was getting sorted. Gryffinfor was really unexpected, I thought I was more like a Ravenclaw, but the Sorting Hat has spoken!_**

**_I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's something a bit different but there is a point to it!  
><em>**

**_All the best and see you next week!  
><em>**

_**~Cherry :)**  
><em>


	13. Chapter 10

Ginny knew that she had a slightly odd relationship with Harry's daughter Ollie, they didn't really have a mother-daughter relationship and nor were they best friends. It even felt that Ollie was still closer to Luna, her Godmother, than she was to Ginny. Nevertheless, Ginny worried about the black haired seventeen year old and she tried to keep the peace between Ollie and her father, remember to fights she had had with her parents after the war when they were far too over protective of her and would not let her live her life.

As she sat in the quidditch stands watching the match, Ginny felt a sense of pride every time Ollie did a move which she had taught her. Ollie was an excellent flier and Ginny knew that if she wasn't so set on being a healer she could easily become a professional quidditch player. Ginny could practically see the quidditch scouts, who had come to watch the game, practically drooling over her and Jon Wood, who had taken after his Uncle, the captain of the England Quidditch team, and was a superb keeper.

Ginny could see how much Ollie wanted to this match to be over, not only because of the increasingly bad weather (if it got any worse she would have to take the twins back up to the castle) but also the way the Hufflepuff team was playing. They were playing so dirtily it was almost like watching a Slytherin team play, especially with all the fouls they were committing. Ginny looked across the stands catching sight of the boy who was at the heart of all of this, the Head Boy, Austin Green. How she had had to restrain herself from strangling the little toe rag by reminding herself that it would not be good for anyone if she ended up in Azkaban. She wanted to tell Harry what Austin had done and said Ollie, but she remembered her stepdaughter's wishes and held her tongue. She knew that Austin would probably wish he could face Voldemort than face Harry's wrath when he found out, because Ginny knew he would find out eventually.

Ginny knew that Austin was extremely ambitious and was applying for an internship in the Ministry of Magic for next year. Ginny could see shared characteristics between Austin and her older brother Percy when he was younger. Percy was now Minister for Magic and over saw all the new applications for internships and Ginny knew that family close and extended meant a lot to him...Ginny was jogged out of her thoughts about her plans for revenge on Austin by Nicholas tugging on her robe sleeve impatiently.

'Look Mama' he said bouncing up and down with excitement, a movement echoed by his twin who was sitting next to him, his hazel eyes shining with delight as he watched the two seekers race for the small golden snitch.

'Who do you think is done to catch the Snitch?' she asked her small son

'Gwiffindor' he replied enthusiastically, clapping his hands together to spur on the Gryffindor seeker.

Ginny jumped to her feet, along with the rest of the crowd, in delight as the Gryffindor seeker pulled out of his dive to catch the elusive golden snitch, to the roar of the crowd.

'Yay!' Nicholas squealed in celebration, waving his hands in the air in celebration.

'You were right!' Ginny exclaimed, bending down and picking up her son and giving him a big kiss on the cheek. She watched as the triumphant Gryffindor team did a lap in celebration, their red and gold robes flying out behind them as they soaked up the crowd's cheers.

'Ollie!' she heard Ariana, her daughter who was currently sitting on Harry's shoulders pointing to her older sister who was flying at the front of the V formation.

Ginny looked up and watched in horror as a stray bludger seemed to be heading towards the team. She looked around in alarm, had anyone else noticed yet? She watched as it headed towards Molly, her niece, who had surprised everyone by first signing up for the quidditch team tryouts and then actually getting a place on the team. Then Ollie seemed to fly backwards pushing Molly out the way. There was a sickening crunch as the hard ball collided with Ollie's side. Everything then seemed to happen in slow motion. At first it looked as if Ollie had managed to remain in control and that it wasn't as bad as it looked, but then to everyone's horror, he eye's rolled backwards and she became limp, sliding off her broomstick and falling like a ragdoll towards the ground. The spectators screamed, some people including both Harry and Ginny held out their wands, trying to slow her body down, or cushion her impact on the ground. The Gryffindor team broke formation almost immediately after their captain slipped from her broom and the members flew down trying to catch her but to no avail as Ollie hit the ground with a thud.

Pandemonium then ensued. Ginny knew she had to get onto the pitch to support Harry, who had already vaulted over the seats and raced onto the pitch to be with his daughter.

'I'll take the twins' a voice said to Ginny

Ginny turned around to see a pink haired Tonks, who had come to see her son and daughter play, standing behind her.

'Thank you so much' Ginny replied gratefully 'Please be good for Aunty Tonks' she whispered to the twins earnestly, kissing the tops of their heads. 'Mummy's got to make sure that Ollie is alright'

'I'll look after them Ginny, don't worry' Tonks said, taking hold of the twins small hands and giving them a reassuring squeeze.

With the knowledge that her children were in safe hands, Ginny raced down onto the pitch. She could see Madam Pomfrey kneeling down on the grass next to Ollie as Harry held his daughter's hand tightly, willing her to be alright. The other members of staff were trying to keep the anxious and curious crowd out of the way, ushering them back towards the castle.

'Aunty Ginny' Molly cried out and Ginny found herself being tackled by the twelve year old chaser. 'It's my fault, it should've been me' she whispered into her Aunt's jumper. 'The Bludger was heading for me, if only I had not been so caught up in the moment I would have heard Millie's warning, then Ollie would not have had to push me out of the way and now she's...' Molly trailed off, going back to sobbing.

'You shouldn't blame yourself Miss Weasley' came the distinctive voice of Professor McGonagall appearing next to Ginny. 'According to Madam Hooch, that bludger was particularly bad tempered and escaped from its place in the quidditch chest as the Hufflepuff beaters tried to lock it away. It had not been tampered with' the Headmistress said, turning to Ginny and pre-empting the red head witch's question. 'This was not foul play on the Hufflepuff teams' part, though I might have to have a word with their captain about some of their tackles.'

Ginny looked over to the black and yellow clad team, who were standing in a huddle on the pitch looking just as shell shocked as their neighbouring Gryffindor counterparts. Ginny gave her niece one last hug before walking over to her husband, placing a comforting arm around his shoulders as Madam Pomfrey, aided by a couple of helpers, lifted Ollie's motionless body onto a stretcher.

'She's going to be ok, love' she whispered into Harry's ear, holding his hand as they followed the floating stretcher back up the castle.

* * *

><p>'I took the twins to your parents' Tonks said to Ginny as she entered the hospital wing and approached the bed Ollie was lying in.<p>

'Thank you' Ginny whispered, glad that Nicholas and Ariana were in safe hands, even though she felt incredibly guilty for leaving them with Tonks, knowing that they were probably very upset and confused as they had seen their beloved older sister fall to the ground.

'How is she doing?' Tonks asked, gesturing to Ollie

'Not too bad considering she fell from just over 40 feet' Ginny replied. 'Madam Promfrey's been able to mend all the broken bones and we're now just waiting from her to wake up so we can see if there is any other lasting damage'

'You look absolutely shattered' Tonks commented.

'Well it's been a long day' Ginny replied as Harry remained silent, continuing to hold his daughter's hand.

'Why don't you two go and freshen up and maybe get something to eat?' Tonk's suggested 'I'll stay with her'

Ginny had to practically drag Harry from his daughter's beside as she took up Tonk's on her offer. 'I'll be back soon' he had whispered, before his wife tugged him out of the hospital wing.

'Hey Ollie, look at you' Tonks said, stroking the girl's black curly hair as she slipping into the chair by the bed that Harry had just been occupying. 'You seem to be always getting into scraps' the metamorphmagus remarked to Ollie's lifeless body. Tonks knew it probably looked really weird but she had heard somewhere that if you talked to someone in a coma they could heard you and had a greater chance of waking up.

Tonks continued to talk to Ollie, recounting stories from the girl's childhood. 'Do you remember the first time we met?' Tonks asked, 'probably not since you were only three. You were a shy little thing, sitting there on your Dad's lap and staring up at me with these big violet eyes of yours looking quite confused as you tried to work out what was going on. We were all speaking this strange language which you were only just beginning to understand. I remember trying to make you smile, morphing into all sorts of appearances like I did with Teddy to make him laugh, to no avail. However as soon as I turned by eyes violet, your eyes lit up and snapped to mine as if you realised that I had made my eyes match yours' Tonks paused to wipe a stray tear away as she reminisced about when Ollie was younger. 'You were such a bight child, quiet but very observant. You always seemed to have an idea about what was going on around you. You picked up English fast than Harry picked up French. Now do you remember when we spent one family holiday...'

* * *

><p>'Thank you so much for sitting with her' Ginny said as she and Harry re-entered the Hospital Wing feeling for refreshed.<p>

'It was no trouble' Tonks replied standing up and putting her leather jacket back on.

'How's everything back at the office?' Harry asked, finally finding his voice.

'Well we're feeling your absence' the head of the Auror Department replied 'but we seem to be coping quite well but nothing too major has come up. Ron found it difficult to adjust ti having a new partner but he is settled now and the products you ordered from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes have helped a lot, especially with the new recruits.

'And how is Remus doing? Harry asked, enquiring about Tonks' absent husband, whose job he was currently covering.

'Well, I've had to organise some more security for Lavender and Remus' talks' Tonks replied 'but that's just because the organisers are being extra cautious but the last time I heard from him be said that everything was going smoothly and people seemed to be listening seriously to what he and Lavender were saying. He's in Moscow at the moment and is going to Beaubatons, to give a talk to the pupils later this week. He's got a break over the Christmas holidays, so he's going to be home then before heading to America in the New Year.'

* * *

><p>Ginny woke up with her head leaning against Harry's shoulder. They had been sitting next to Ollie through the night, waiting to see any signs of improvement and she must have dropped off. Harry seemed to be staring into space, playing with Ollie's silver pendent absentmindedly. She watched him wrap the silver charm around his fingers as the crystal sparkled in the early morning light.<p>

'Mr Potter, could I have a word?' came the voice of the Headmistress, who was standing at the foot of the bed.

Ginny jumped in surprised. McGonagall seemed to have developed the knack Dumbledore had of sneaking up on people unnoticed.

'Mr Potter, I have an important matter to discuss with you' Professor McGonagall said firmly, when Harry failed to reply

'Right, sure Professor' Harry replied, realising that someone was talking to him. Knowing that he could not disobey the Headmistress, he reluctantly stood up, placed Ollie's pendent back on her bedside table and walked towards McGonagall, with Ginny giving his hand a reassuring squeeze as he passed. He then curiously followed the Scottish ex-transfiguration teacher out of the Hospital Wing, wondering what she needed to talk to him about.

Ginny spent most of the morning in the hospital wing keeping Ollie company, whilst wondering where her husband was, though her mind was slightly put to rest when she received a letter from her Mother saying that the twins were ok. Some of Ollie's classmates came to visit, including Jon and Phoenix who stayed for a while, Jon hoping that Kitty would appreciate the chocolate they had brought, before heading back to the Gryffindor Common Room to tackle the mountain of homework they were buried under.

'Aunt Ginny is it ok if I come in?' asked a small voice

Ginny looked up to see a timid eleven year old Dominique peering around the Hospital Wing door.

'Oh hi, come in Dom' Ginny replied, gesturing from the strawberry blonde haired girl to enter. She was not surprised to see her niece. Victoire, her sister had tagged along with Millie, Teddy and Molly when they had visited with the rest of the quidditch team and had told her Aunt that Dom would be coming along later. Ginny had noticed that Ollie seemed to get along better with the quieter Weasley cousins, Dom and Molly, than the louder more outgoing ones, Victoire and Fred.

'Is Ollie going to be ok?' Dom asked approaching the bed quietly.

'Yes, Madam Pomfrey was able to patch her up, so we're just hoping that she wakes up soon' Ginny replied

'Molly was really upset'

'It was not her fault' Ginny said, remembering the letter Percy had sent late last night telling them how grateful he was that Ollie had saved Molly, because he knew that it could have been much worse if it had been Molly's small body plummeting towards the ground. Ginny had smiled, because Ollie's heroic actions definitely meant that Percy would help her carry out her plans to have revenge on Austin.

'Is that Ollie's pendent?' Dominique asked, pointing to the necklace on the bedside table. Ginny nodded at the curious fist year reached across and picked it up, turning it over in her hands. She had never seen Ollie without it but when she had questioned Ollie about it, the older girl had clammed up. _Katarina Je t'adore Sirius _she read off the back, wondering why there were words written in French on the back.

Suddenly Ollie began to mumble and move around.

'Aunt Ginny, She's moving!' Dom exclaimed

'Madam Pomfrey!' Ginny shouted, hoping that the matron in her office could hear her, not wanting to leave Ollie's side. 'She's moving' Ginny explained as the School Healer poked her head out of her office.

Madam Promfry rushed over and began to check Ollie's vitals. 'She still seems like she's asleep, though her heart beat is slightly elevated' she stated.

'I think she's saying something' Dom said, listening closely to Ollie's mumbles. 'c'est mon collier' she whispered to herself, repeating Ollie's words 'ne le touchez pas'

'She's not speaking English' Ginny stated

'It's French' her niece replied understanding what Ollie was saying due to her French mother. 'But she keeps on saying really random things, it's my necklace and don't touch it, over and over again. It is like she is having a one sided conversation'. Dom continued to translate what Ollie was saying, whilst wondering why Ollie, who seemed so thoroughly English, was talking in French. She knew that Ollie had told everyone her story when they had first met, but that was years ago and she had been young then and had not been paying attention.

Then Ollie began to trash around widely. Ginny and Madam Pomfrey tried to hold her down to stop her from hurting herself to little success. Ginny wished that Harry was there, he knew more about Ollie than anyone else. Then as dramatically as it started, the trashing stopped as Ollie suddenly stopped moving and curled up into a ball on the bed, her knees practically tucked up under her chin.

'I am not a freak' Dom said, translating Ollie's murmuring for Ginny and Madam Pomfrey, whilst wondering what was going on with Ollie, surely this was not normal? The older girl always seemed so strong and in control and now she looked venerable and broken. 'He loves me, he loves me. Papa please come and get me-'

'-Please come and love me' came another, deeper voice, translating Ollie's cries, showing her inner turmoil.

Ginny whipped her head around and stared at her husband, who was making his way towards Ollie with a unreadable expression on his face.

'Papa's here Ollie' he whispered, bending down so he was eyelevel with his daughter. 'Papa est ici' he repeated in French.

Ollie's eyelids began to flutter.

'Papa loves you' Harry whispered, stroking his daughter's face, willing her to wake up.

* * *

><p><strong>HI!<strong>

**A BIG thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it was great to hear what all the readers who have been with this story since the very beginning made of it and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you thought of this one.  
><strong>

**It would be also great to hear from some new readers, just so I could hear another new perspective on this story, what you make of it or what I could improve. If you haven't reviewed before, please drop me a line.  
><strong>

**I appologise if the French now sense but I am a rubbish linguist so it's all Google Translate! Please let me know if it is wrong so I can edit it.  
><strong>

**Many thanks and see you next week  
><strong>

**~Cherry :)  
><strong>

_Translations_

__Katarina Je t'adore_ - Katarina I love you  
><em>

_c'est mon collier - It's my necklace_

_ne le touchez pas - don't touch it  
><em>


	14. Chapter 11

When Harry saw his daughter falling like a rag doll he finally realised how his friends must have felt every time he got into a quidditch accident, falling off his broom countless times during his time at Hogwarts and then waking up in the Hospital Wing to be fussed over by Madam Pomfrey for the rest of the week. He had just laughed all the accidents off, not seeing why his friends all looked so worried and concerned as they stood over his hospital bed. However now it was his own daughter being knocked off her broom, he understood how they must have felt.

Ollie had had other accidents, she would not be considered normal if she hadn't, a sprained wrist from catching a quaffle oddly, a broken nose and leg from burrowing into the ground after a failed attempt at doing a feint

He had only left his daughter's side when Ginny and Tonks had made him, but he had returned as quickly as he could and had sat next to her through the night in case she woke up, even though Ginny had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

It was early Sunday morning and he was playing with Ollie's pendent when the Headmistress entered the hospital wing and demanded that she needed to speak to him urgently. Harry did not want to leave his daughter again but he knew he could not disobey McGonagall, who with a steely look in her eye, could still make him feel like a naughty first year.

'Right, sure' he said standing up, placing Ollie's pendent back on the bedside table and towards the Headmistress. Ginny gave his hand a comforting squeeze as he passed.

'I know I shouldn't tear you away from Ollie, but I recently discovered something which might interest you and your daughter.

Intrigued as to what it could be, Harry followed his old transfiguration teacher through the castle and up to the Head's office.

'Well I was clearing out this office and I found some old documents relating to the Order of the Phoenix' McGonagall said as they entered the room and she gestured for Harry to take a seat in from of the desk, while she sat behind it and pulled out an old box. 'I thought that you would find this interesting' she said, opening the box and handing Harry one of the documents. 'I think you will find the likeness uncanny'

Harry looked at the picture McGonagall was referring to closely. She was right, the likeness was almost scary. 'All this years I've thought that Ollie took after Sirius except the violet eyes, she must have got from her mother, but wow, she looks like Ollie's slightly older blonde twin' Harry said in disbelief.

'I knew it would interest you' McGonagall stated, leaning back into her chair and resting her chin on her hands as if contemplating what to say next. 'I don't know if you know much about Ollie's mother, but I think she told me once that she was named after her, so I thought you should have a look at this woman because they look so similar even though her name is spelt slightly differently'

'I spelt her name wrong' Harry whispered under his breath, remembering the odd conversation he had had with Sirius after he had ended up in Limbo, the place between life and death, for the second time.

'Pardon?'

'Oh nothing' Harry replied hastily, not wanting to try and explain to the older witch what limbo was. 'Katerina Alexandrovna Volkova' he read off the top of the document.

'Russian at a guess' McGonagall supplied

'Then what is she doing in Southern France?' Harry asked, looking at the details of Katerina's location. 'She's in the Pyrenees by the look of it. A couple of miles away from where Luna and I found Ollie' Harry said before continuing to read the document carefully, eager to find out more about this mysterious woman who had had a child with Sirius Black. 'Status: informant' he read off the piece of parchment before looking up at the Headmistress quizzically.

'In the Order there weren't just people who fought the Death Eaters in the UK, there were also people abroad who acted as contacts and supplied us with information. I think Charlie Weasley was one because he had to stay out with his dragons in Romania and it looks like Katerina must have been one too, supplying useful information to the Order.

'You don't know what type of information she provided?' Harry asked

'I'm afraid I don't professor McGonagall stated. 'Though I was in the Order, lots of the information was top secret and on a need to know basis'

Harry looked around the office, trying to fine Dumbledore's portrait, but when he located it, he was disheartened to find that it was empty because he hoped to question the founder and leader of the Order of the Phoenix about Katerina. Harry continued to look down the document, reading how it had been unsurprisingly, Sirius who had introduced her to the Order and how Dumbledore had approved her entry.

'Look on the back' McGonagall told Harry

Harry obliged and was confused to see the word _MISSING_ scrawled on the back in dark red ink. 'Do you know what happen?' Harry asked, putting the parchment back onto the Headmistress' desk.

'No' McGonagall replied. 'I looked through the other boxes and bits of parchment I found, but I could not find any more mentions about Katerina. Perhaps someone who attended all the meetings during that time would know more' she suggested, hanging the document and picture to Harry. 'Ollie should know about her mother'

'Thank you Professor' Harry replied, folding up the parchment and tucking it into her robe pocket.

'Ollie going to be alright' Professor McGonagall said as Harry left her office.

'I hope so' Harry replied, as the old wooden door closed behind him.

* * *

><p>Instead of heading back to the hospital wing, Harry turned left, headeding outside into the school grounds to try and clear his head and to take in all that had happened. First his daughter had ended up in the Hospital Wing after acting the hero and taking a bludger for Molly Weasley and now Professor McGonagall seemed to have found Ollie's mysterious mother, except of clearing up everything, it had just made everything more complicated, with so many questions unanswered. Who was this mysterious Katerina? How did Sirius meet her? What information was she supplying the Order?<p>

Harry knew, as he sat under the old oak tree which had his parents initials engraved on it, that he should probably tell Ollie what the Headmistress had discovered, as he remembered what it had been like to not know anything about your mother. In the short time they had had together, during the summer holiday before his 5th year and that eventful Christmas, Sirius had told Harry, with the aid of Remus, lots of the Marauder's adventures but even with living with his mother's sister for most of his childhood, Harry had still learnt more about his mother from Snape's memories than his aunt. Now he and Petunia were on friendlier terms he had finally learnt more about his Mum, but there were still huge gaps in his knowledge. However if he told Ollie, he knew that she would want to find out more and would be bitterly disappointed if they found nothing.

Still in a quandary about what to do, Harry headed back to the Hospital Wing, knowing that Ginny would be wondering where he was. As he approached the room in he had spent several hours in Madam Pomfrey's clutches, he heard some shouting and running out, which puzzled him because when he had left Ollie's bedside everything had been very still. As he turned the corner and entered the hospital wing, he was greeted by the sight of Ollie curled up on the bed, moving around as opposed to lying there motionlessly. Madam Pomfrey was standing over her, whilst Ginny was holding Ollie's hand tightly. Harry ten realised that there was a third person standing around Ollie's bed. It was little Dominique Weasley who seemed to be talking, but he could not hear what she was saying. Then as he moved closer, he realised that she was translating. Ollie seemed to be sleep talking in French.

'Papa please come and get me-' he heard Dom say, interpreting Ollie mumbles for the non French speakers in the room.

'Please come and love me' Harry said finishing off Dom's sentence, deciding to make his presence known and sitting down next to Ollie. 'Papa loves you Ollie' he whispered into Ollie's ear, stroking her face and black curls soothingly, like he used to do when she had bad dream when she was younger. When she was like this, it reminded him of the horrible nightmares he had been plagued with during and after the war and how all he needed was to be woken up to make it stop. 'Wake up Ollie' he whispered.

Upon hearing her father's voice, Ollie seemed to calm and her eyelids began to flutter.

'She's waking up!' Ginny exclaimed as Madam Pomfrey encouraged Harry to keep talking. After a few more words of encouragement Ollie's eyes opened slowly. Dominique immediately ran out of the Hospital Wing to spread the word that Ollie Potter had woken up.

'Papa' Ollie whispered, upon seeing her Dad's emerald green eyes looking into her violet.

In that instant Harry decided not to tell Ollie about the document, which was tucked safely into his robe pocket. She had obviously been trapped in a bad memory of her past and he did not want to distress her or cause her anymore harm. He was her father had he wanted to protect her from disappointment. He decided he would tell her when he found out more about Katerina and her relationship with Sirius and the Order of the Phoenix.

* * *

><p><em>What did you think?<em>


	15. Interlude III

'There's an owl for you' Katarina said as a big black dog entered the cave 'it won't leave so I guess it must be important' she added as she watched the dog transferred into a shaggy black haired man, who headed towards the small owl and detached the letter from its leg.

'It's from Hogwarts' Sirius replied as he broke the red wax seal embossed with the school's distinctive crest.

'That's the school?' Katerina asked, waking over to Sirius, who was now reading the letter quickly.

'What it Sirius?' she asked as she watched his face fall as he folded up the letter and tossed it into the fire, watching the edges of the parchment crinkle up as it burnt.

'It's Harry' he replied, playing with his beard, a sign she had picked up which showed that he was worried, even though he appeared calm.

'Has he had another dream?' she asked, reaching out to touch his arm, trying to give the obviously troubled man some comfort. She remembered the letter Sirius' godson had sent him a month or so ago, telling him about a weird dream he had had. Sirius, at that point had been prepared to head back to Britain, to find Harry, but she had persuaded him to stay, stating that Harry would just worry if he headed back (she had been proven right when Harry replied to Sirius' hastily written letter) and that the Ministry of Magic would still be looking for him and he would not be any use to Harry if he was recaptured.

'It's much worse' he answered, sitting down on the hard cave floor.

'What did the letter say? She asked, sitting down beside him as he stared into the fire.

'It was from Dumbledore' he stated

'Dumbledore, he's the Headmaster?'

'Yeah, he wrote to tell me that Harry has been selected from the Triwizard Tournament'

'The What?'

Sirius then had to explain to the clueless witch what the Triwizard Tournament involved and its horrifying history. 'The thing is though' he said, explaining what was so wrong 'this time they decided to use an age line, so only students who are of age could enter hoping than it would be safer'

'But I thought you said that Harry was fourteen!' Katerina explained, remembering the mad expedition she and Sirius had had back in July when they had to steal a cake to send Harry for his birthday, from the local patisserie.

'That's the thing; someone else must have entered Harry into the Goblet of Fire. There are only meant to be three champions and Harry can't drop out because as soon as his name was put into the goblet, it was like signing a magical binding contract. He has to take part and he's going to be against these 17 year olds.'

'You need to go back' Katerina stated firmly as Sirius sat there quietly

'But I though you thought it would be too dangerous?'

'It sounds like Harry needs you. This Dumbledore obviously thinks that you should go back and from what you have told me about him, he's probably got you a place to hide near the castle. You need to be there to support Harry.'

Sirius stayed silent as if contemplating what the Russian witch was saying. _But I can't leave you _he thought. He felt horrible at the thought of leaving Rina behind. They had spent the summer together and Sirius felt a companionship with the blonde haired witch, more than he had ever felt with any other woman. When he had been at Hogwarts he had been a serial dater, using them just to fulfil his needs, he had never really been friends with one. That had changed when Lily Evans had finally become James' girlfriend. Sirius and Lily had become friends, which was surprising since he had spent most of his time at Hogwarts tormenting her but when James had been away on Order business it had left Sirius to look after a pregnant hormonal Lily.

The feelings Sirius had for Rina were also different from what he had felt for Marlene McKinnon, the only girl who would not fall for his charms and had tragically died just before the demise of Voldemort. It seemed despite the age difference, he felt a very strong connection to Rina. Not only were they hiding from something (Sirius had yet to find out what she was hiding from) and lonely, but she was also an animagus. Sirius thought that he had never seen such a beautiful creature than the white wolf that she transformed into and it had solved the mystery of the bright violet eyes he had seen in the darkness on his first night in the cave.

He couldn't just leave her behind, not after the way she had look after her him, let him live in her cave, fed him and his hungry hippogriff and kept him company throughout the summer.

'I'll be alright' Katarina said calmly, as if reading his thoughts. 'I've survived seven years by myself'

'But-'

'Sirius, Harry needs you, it's going to get worse; you know that. From what you've told me, your godson and trouble always seem to find each other.'

Sirius sighed, he knew what he had to do but he felt so reluctant to do it.

'I'll be alright' she repeated, kissing him on the cheek.

However at that very moment Sirius turned his head, capturing her lips with his. Sparks jolted through their bodies, igniting this lust and passion that had been deeply buried. Though in shock, Sirius was glad that Rina did not pull away but instead seemed to pull him closer, falling into the kiss. Finally they pulled apart, gasping for air.

'I'll sort out some things for you to take' Katerina said, as if nothing had happened, though a small smile betrayed her true feelings. 'You'd better fly through the night. You wouldn't want people to see a hippogriff flying through the sky and ask questions, just be careful of the giants'

As she walked away, Sirius sat there, next to the dying embers of the fire, wondering what had just happened and what was going to happen next.


	16. Chapter 12

Ollie folded up the parchment and placed it back on the bedside table, before sinking back into the soft Hospital wing pillows. Though she had woken up on Sunday, Madam Pomfrey was still not letting her out of her grasp and it was now Thursday. Apparently it was because she had bashed her head and still needed to be under observation.

The letter had been from Gabby, telling Ollie that she and her husband Dennis were currently in France, so Dennis, who was a photographer, could capture the scenery which was particularly good at this time of year. Ollie had read it sceptically, knowing that Gabby was covering for something; she was using the same cover story that she had had when she worked for the IDA therefore implying that whatever she was doing was probably top secret.

Gabby's letter had also reminded Ollie that she needed to get her applications for Healer schools in soon. Most of the people in her healing class had already done it but she had been so busy with school work, quidditch and Austin that she had not been able to really think about it. Being in the hospital wing and Gabby, who had asked whether she knew where she was applying to, had jogged her memory.

Most people from Hogwarts just applied to St Etheldreda's, the healing school attached to St Mungo's in London, though some also applied to the Irish Healing College as well. However Ollie wasn't sure whether she wanted to stay in Britain after she left Hogwarts, she had loved her years at Beaubatons in France and had also really enjoyed her holidays in Italy. The house in Italy was also now officially hers, since her Dad had transferred it to her after her seventeenth birthday. There were two healing schools in France, la Maison de la Medicine in Paris and Sœur Bernadette's near Bordeaux.

Having waded her way through the huge pile of school work her friends had brought her, Ollie decided to make a pros and cons list about where she wanted to go. She had just finished writing the cons for St Etheldreda's (In London, in England which means it rains most of the time) when she realised she had a visitor.

'Aunt Luna!' she exclaimed, upon seeing her blonde haired godmother. She hastily put her quill down and threw her arms around the older witch.

'Kitten!' Luna replied warmly, as she returned her goddaughter's hug, before sitting down on the chair next to Ollie's hospital bed. 'I'm sorry if I was interrupting you doing some work'

'Oh no, it's nothing' Ollie replied, gathering up the pieces of parchment which were all over the crisp white sheets 'I was just trying to make a pros and cons list for all the healing schools . What are you doing here?' she asked.

'Coming to see you silly' Luna replied, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a card. 'Dawn made this for you, apparently it's you flying on your broom' Luna explained handing Ollie the card and pointing to the shapeless blobs on the front.

'Tell her thank you from me' Ollie replied, putting it up next to the drawing Arrie and Nicholas had given her when they had visited with Mrs Weasley earlier in the week. 'So did Dad send for you?' Ollie asked 'because he has been acting really weird ever since I woke up'

'He might have written to me to tell me about your accident, but I found out from Neville first, he did not know whether to be upset that you were hurt or proud that you had shown the true Gryffindor bravery and saved another student's life. I just told him that you had inherited your father's hero complex which should not be encouraged.'

'How are things between you and Professor Longbottom?' Ollie asked eager to steer the conversation away from herself. 'Has he proposed yet?'

'Ollie don't be too hasty, we still don't live together'

'Aunt Luna, he practically lives at your house during the holidays when he is not teaching and now old Mrs Longbottom has passed away he has no excuse not to move in officially. Dawn would not mind because she absolutely adores him.

'Ollie, not everyone is like your father and Ginny, who in under a year were reunited had moved in together, had got engaged, married and were expecting the twins. Some relationships take time'

'I know that you and Professor Longbottom have had bad experiences relationship wise, but isn't it time to move on and be happy'

'Wise words Ollie, but we'll see' Luna replied

'So what are you writing about at the moment?' Ollie asked, wanting to hear about her Godmother's new research project.

'I'm not quite sure' Luna replied. 'I was thinking about doing a thesis about made up creatures from different cultures and why people believe they are real, but then that would require a lot of travelling and I can't do that with Dawn. I think I'm going to stick close to home and write about household pets, which would be equally as fascinating and useful for everyday life, maybe on kneazles and pigmy puffs.

Ollie listened with interest as Luna discussed her work passionately, clearly loving what she did. Ollie though as silently glad that her godmother had not gone down the made up route because it was rather odd. Ever since Luna had moved back to England and had Dawn, she had become more eccentric both in her behaviour, appearance and beliefs. Though she had grudgingly admitted that the Crumple-Horned Snorkack wasn't real but she still held on to her Wrackspurts and Nargles. Ollie's Dad said that Luna was just returning to 'normal' but Ollie did find it quite weird because when she was growing up Luna was always the sensible logical one.

'Do you remember anything that happened when you were out?' Luna asked, once they had exhausted the discussion of whether you would get a purple pygmy puff if a red and blue one mated.

'Ha! Dad did talk to you!' Ollie exclaimed

'He's just worried' Luna replied

'Then why doesn't he ask me himself' Ollie replied in a huff. 'He's become so guarded, as if he is hiding something' Ollie stated, clearly annoyed at her father. 'He and Ginny, well mainly him, has been treating me as if I'm made of glass ever since I woke up'

'Well you did give them good reason to' Luna replied. 'Ginny was properly scared when you started thrashing around like that and she was completely thrown when you started talking in French'

'I was having a really vivid dream, well more like nightmare' Ollie replied quietly

'Like the ones you had when you were younger?' Luna asked

'Yeah, but not like the ones I had after Egypt, which was more like my imagination running wild, this time it felt like what was happing was real, like I was reliving my memories from before you found me'

'What happened?' Luna asked curiously, reaching out to hold Ollie's hand, hoping that Ollie would let it all out and not close up again. She was also curious to get to the bottom of the nightmares which Ollie had had when she was really small and had just started living with Harry.

Ollie began to tell Luna what she had seen when she was unconscious. She described the feeling of isolation she had felt and loneliness, when no one would talk to her after the accident with Françoise. 'I then heard Dad's voice calling out to me as I sank deeper into this darkness and I opened my eyes to find him standing over me. It reminded me of the first time I met you, when I woke up to find that I was being picked up by this strange man who was accompanied by this strange blonde haired woman, both of whom seemed to be speaking in a language I could not understand. The man then put me on his shoulders and we walked out of the orphanage. I felt so free' Ollie remembered wistfully, closing her eyes and reliving the happy memory.

'You remember that?' Luna asked

'It's my earliest memory' Ollie replied. 'Well it was until I realised that what I was seeing in my nightmares were memories from before I met you that I had tried to suppress and only came out went I was asleep'

'Well that wasn't so hard' Luna remarked, silently congratulating herself that she had managed to get Ollie to open up. 'You shouldn't try and keep things bottled up if you have problems' she advised, seriously considering a career as a therapist –she had lost count of the number of times she had had to sort Harry, Ollie and various people out.

Ollie remembered the secret she was keeping about what happened with Austin, as she nodded her head to what Luna was saying. It was all very well telling people about a long forgotten memory but nobody needed to know about her stupidity and how blind and weak she had been. That was something she could keep to herself, nobody else needed to know.

Luna, as if sensing that Ollie did not want to speak about her memory or her father any more, decided to change the subject. 'So what are the positives about staying abroad?' she asked and watched with satisfaction as Ollie's face lit up as she discussed the merits of studying in France over studying in England. Luna listened attentively, but she knew Ollie well enough to know that she was still hiding something.

* * *

><p>'What's that?' Ginny asked as she watched her husband tuck a piece of parchment into one of the pockets in his robes, as she entered his office carrying a steaming mug of butterbeer.<p>

'Oh it's nothing' Harry replied evasively. 'Just some work business, how's your mother?' he asked, trying to change the subject.

'She's fine and the twins are having a great time playing with their cousins' his wife replied

As Ginny walked out of the office having delivered the drink and closed the door behind her she sighed. She knew that Harry was hiding something. She just wished he would trust her and tell her what it was that he was keeping secret. She knew that he had spent eleven years keeping things to him, but he was married now. Surely a marriage, or any relationship for that matter, was based on trust and most couples shared everything with each other?

As far as Ginny was concerned there were far too many secrets floating around and she was getting so tired of all of them.

* * *

><p><strong>A big thank you to the reader who could not be bothered to login for leaving me my 50th review and also to Lollypops101for reviewing the last chapter. I can't believe I am now over 50 reviews and it has made me very happy!<strong>

**I'm stuck in the middle of revision at the moment (stupid physics!), so reviews really encourage me to keep on writing. I hope you liked this chapter, sorry it was a bit of a filer but there will be more drama next chapter, so look out for it.  
><strong>

**As always, please review and let me know what you made of this chapter.  
><strong>

**All the best  
><strong>

**_Cherry :)_  
><strong>


	17. Chapter 13

'It's so good to be back!' Gabby exclaimed as she walked through the sun lit halls which made up Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, her old school. She and her husband had just been greeted by Madame Maxine, the Headmistress and now they were making their way through the hallways towards the Beauxbatons hall of mirrors, where Lavender Finnegan and Remus Lupin's talk about werewolf rights was scheduled to take place in a couple of days. It had already been delayed due to the fact that the organisers had forgotten about the full moon and the bad weather they had encountered on their way from Russia to the South of France.

'It's just the students that are attending?' Dennis asked as he walked along side his wife.

'The students plus some local residents, who can't make it to the talk in Paris' she replied

'And this is the hall of mirrors' Gabby announced as they reached the room.

'Wow' was all Dennis could say as he entered the room. He expected it to be like Hogwarts, dark and gloomy but it was absolutely beautiful.

'You should have seen it at Christmas, with the ice sculptures and candles' Gabby remarked before holding back a laugh as Dennis reached into his rucksack and pulled out his camera and began taking pictures.

'Just move to the left...and turn your head a bit...bit more...perfect'

'Are you finished yet?' Gabby asked after she had been made to pose for at least 15 photos.

'Well I have to take some it's part of our cover' Dennis replied before snapping one last photo of his wife glaring at him.

'So there are going to be some external visitors?' Dennis asked.

'Yes' Gabby replied now scanning the room.

Dennis just nodded, before making a mental note to look up the people who had been invited to the talk. He and Gabby were meant to be retired from the whole secret agent business, especially since their role in the IDA had been revealed. However that was a couple of years ago now and no one would suspect them any more especially since they now ran a successful photography shop on Diagon Alley. Also he could tell that Gabby was going a bit stir crazy just being in the shop, as much as she love it, so when Tonks, the Head of the Auror Department had contacted them, they had jumped to the chance.

Remus had written to his wife, describing what he had been doing and he had mentioned a man who had asked some questions, which at the time had seemed normal but on reflection seemed a bit suspicious and he wanted information on the man. Tonks had known, with Harry already away at Hogwarts and the other Aurors already with Remus and Lavender as their security detail, that she could not spare more people to follow up what her over cautious husband had picked up on. She had therefore asked Dennis and Gabby to find out the information instead, knowing that they were probably the best in the business for gaining information discreetly and eager for the job.

The man that had been questioning Remus and turned out to be Ivan Volkov, the Russian minister for international affairs, the position he had inherited from his father-in-law Sergei Lebedev. However, apart from the fact that he had a nasty look scar on his face, was the only information they had been able to gather. Ivan Volkov's family was an Old Russian one and he had lands in Sayan mountain range all the way to Lake Baikal.

Gabby had just labelled Ivan as curious and had reassured Remus that there was nothing to be worried about but Dennis knew that the werewolf's instincts were normally right and he knew that they should do some for investigating. There was something not quite right.

* * *

><p>'Dad!' Ollie called out, as she barged through his office door loudly.<p>

'What is it Ollie?' Harry asked, shuffling pieces of parchment around his desk.

'How was Godric's Hollow?' Ollie asked, popping herself down into the chair in front of her Dad's messy desk. It was nearly two weeks since she had woken up after her accident and had made a full recovery. After a week of enduring poking and prodding by both Madam Pomfrey and all her classmates in her healing class, she had finally been freed from the Hospital Wing and had been thrust back into school life. She had to make up all the lessons she had missed and also to try and get her life organised. It was Halloween today and she was looking forward to sharing some pumpkin pie with her friends at the feast later.

'Yeah it was ok' Harry replied. 'I paid my respects, lit a candle in the church for them and visited the cottage' he said referring to his traditional annual pilgrimage to Godric's Hollow on the day on which all those years ago his life had changed forever. 'Did you go to the memorial?' he asked

'Yeah' Ollie replied 'though it was really cold and I couldn't stay long because I had lots of things to do'

'So what did you want to talk to me about?' Harry asked, because it was very unusual for Ollie to burst into to his office like she had just done, with a beaming smile on her face.

'I sent them off' Ollie announced

'You sent what off?'

'I sent my applications for Healer School off' she said excitedly

'Where did you apply in the end?' he asked curiously, having had no real input into his daughter's decision apart from telling Ollie that he would support her wherever she decided to go.

'Well I applied to St Etheldreda's in London' Ollie replied 'and Sister Bernadette's near Bordeaux' she added nervously, wondering what her Dad would make of that.

'Bordeaux, in France! You didn't think about Ireland?'

'I have fond memories of growing up in France, when you were teaching at Beauxbatons and anyway it would be a great place to study' she replied arms crossed.

'I know' Harry replied 'you'll just be so far away but I'm happy if your happy' Harry stated pulling Ollie into a hug and pressing at kiss to the top of her head. 'My little girl is all grown up. I can't believe that you're in your last year at Hogwarts and preparing to take on the world, just yesterday you were colouring in unicorns with Luna'

'Dad!' Ollie said exasperatedly, not wanting him to carry on with his speech about how he remembered when she was the twins' age and all the embarrassing things she had got up to and how sweet she had been.

'Was there anything else?' Harry asked as Ollie pulled out of the hug 'I'm always here if you need to talk. How are things with Austin?'

'Thanks Dad' Ollie replied 'but I'm ok at the moment, just getting along'

'Well that's good' Harry said as they stood there in an awkward silence

'Well, I'd better get ready for the feast' Ollie said finally, turning to leave the room. However as she did, she caught sight of something poking out from a pile of unmarked essays. All she could see was a violet eye, semi hidden from view. What had really grabbed her attention was the fact that the eye looked exactly like her own. 'Dad, what's that?' she asked, pointing at the partially hidden picture.

'Oh, that's nothing' Harry said horridly, rushing over to obscure it from view

'Dad!' Ollie said angrily, knowing that her father was deliberately hiding something from her. 'What are you hiding?'

'It's nothing Ollie, just some work stuff!'

'Then why can't I have a look? Don't tell me its top secret because that has not stopped me before' Ollie retorted reaching over to grab the mysterious photo.

'Ollie' Harry said sternly, placing his hand on top of hers, trying to stop her from getting the photograph. He really did not want to tell her what he had found out from McGonagall, now was not a good time.

'Dad' Ollie replied, her fingers to prise the picture from underneath the pile of paperwork

'Katarina'

Ollie stopped struggling in shock, her Dad rarely used her first name. Andromeda, Tonks, Narcissa, Luna and even Jon called her Kitty, but never her Dad. She couldn't even remember the last time he had used it, maybe when she had been up to no good when she was younger. Ollie was torn, she really wanted to see what her Dad was hiding from her, who was this person who had eyes just like hers. Taking advantage if the pause in movement, Ollie reached forward with her free hand and pulled out the photograph from underneath the pile of parchment.

'Dad, what is this?' Who is this?' she asked in shock as she stared down at the picture of a young woman who was smiling towards the camera. If she ever wanted to know what she would look like if she dyed her hair blond, here was what she would look like. They had the same eyes, the same figure , though it was hard t tell because the woman was wearing a fir lined cloak and the same face down to the button nose. The only difference was that this woman had a glorious mane of blonde, almost white, hair, whereas Ollie had black unruly curls. Apart from that they were practically identical.

'Please tell me this is who I think this is' she stated, when her father failed to reply.

'Yes it is Ollie' Harry replied finally

'But how?' Ollie asked wondering how her father had this picture, when they had spent so many years not knowing her mother's identity.

Harry wordlessly shuffled through the rest of the pieces of parchment on his desk until he came across the document which the photograph had been attached to. He then handed it over to Ollie so she could read it. This was not now he imagined she'd find out.

Ollie scanned through the document detailing her mother's involvement in the Order of the Phoenix. 'But how did you get this?' she asked after reading that her mother had gone missing.

'McGonagall found it when she was tidying her office' Harry replied

'And when did she give this to you?' Ollie questioned

'About two weeks ago' Harry said, bracing himself for the explosion which was about to happen.

Ollie did not disappoint, her Black temper coming out in full force. 'TWO WEEKS!' she exclaimed angrily. 'You've kept something, so important to me secret for two weeks? When were you planning to tell me about this?' she asked, folding her arms and glaring at her father.

'Ollie, McGonagall gave this to me when you were still unconscious and then you were recovering and sorting out your healer school applications, I did not want to upset or distract you'

'You planned to keep this secret?' Why do you try and keep everything secret, don't you trust me?'

'Of course I do' Harry said calmly, trying to placate his daughter.

'Then why don't you tell me everything? First it was that you were taking over Uncle Remus' job and then that you were all moving to the castle and now this. What else have you been keeping from me! After all we've been through together, Egypt, your capture and trial, you'd think that you could trust me and stop treating me like a child' she ranted, everything which she had bottled up now coming out.

'Ollie I didn't mean to upset you'

'Dad, I'm not upset, I'm absolutely furious!' she shouted. I can't believe you! Do you remember when we were just Papa and Ollie, who shared everything with each other and were best friends? Now I hardly know you!'

'We could go that, if you want' Harry said 'we can fix this. I'm really sorry, I just wanted to protect you because I love you'

'Dad, I'm of age now, I'm an adult and I don't need you to keep on protecting me. I can look after myself and make my own decisions'

'Ollie, I'm your father and I vowed to protect you'

'Well maybe I don't want a father' Ollie shouted 'if it means being lied to all the time.' Still holding the picture and document tightly in her hands she stormed out of her father's office, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.

Harry sank down into his chair, his head in held in his hands. What had he done?

He thought that his relationship with his daughter had been getting better, but now it seemed that in doing what he thought was right he had only made it worse.


	18. Chapter 14

Harry scanned the Great Hall anxiously, looking down at all the students from his position at the Teacher's Table. However he could not see his daughter amongst the pupils tucking into their Halloween feast.

'Are you ok?' Ginny asked, noticing Harry's preoccupation and the way he was not eating his food.

'Yeah, I'm just trying to find Ollie, I can't see her' he replied

'She's probably at the back of the hall with Jon, Phoenix and the rest of the 7th years' Ginny replied, before having another mouthful of pumpkin pie.

Harry just nodded at continued to push his uneaten pie around his plate.

'Professor Potter'

'Harry'

'The black haired man in question turned his head and noticed a group of Gryffindors with their head of house, Professor Longbottom, beckoning him over.

'Professor, Ollie's missing, have you seen her?' Phoenix asked quickly once they had got the defence against the dark art teacher's attention

'Not since before the feast when she told me that she had sent off her applications to Healer School' Harry replied. 'I thought she headed back to the Gryffindor Common room to get ready for the feast.'

'She didn't come back to the dormitory professor' Maisie, one of Ollie's dorm mates, and the person who took the longest to get ready, reported. 'I was there all afternoon and she never came back after she finished proof reading her applications'

'I walked with her up to the Owlery to sent Bluebell off with them' Jon stated 'but then I came back to the common room when she said that she wanted to go and see you'

'-but she didn't come back to the common room afterwards' Archie another 7th year supplied

'It seems Harry, that you were the last person to see Ollie' Professor Longbottom stated. 'Do you have any idea where she could be?'

Harry shook his head. He had not a clue where his daughter could have run off to in her anger. He just hoped that she had stayed in the castle.

'Maybe she went to the war memorial' Heather suggested, remembering where her friend had spent Halloween in their 3rd year, when her father had been away.

'She went there this morning' Harry said.

'If she missed the feast, then she could be in the kitchens' Ellie, Maisie's best friend and the resident Gryffindor gossip, suggested.

'Why don't we all split up and look for her?' Heather suggested, assuming her role as Head Girl.

'Good idea Heather' Professor Longbottom stated. 'Why don't you go and visit Hagrid and see if she is somewhere in the grounds, Maisie and Ellie, the bathrooms and lower corridors, Archie and Dylan, the kitchens and the classrooms, Phoenix-'

'-I'll take the common room and ask the portraits' the girl in question interrupted.

'Which means Jon-'

'-I have everywhere else including the towers' Jon finished.

'Professor Potter and I will also look'

'You all know how to produce a patronus?' Harry asked,

'Yes Professor' they chorused

'Then sent one when you find her, to let the rest of us know'

With that the 7th year Gryffindors headed off to the four corners of the castle looking for their friend. They were not particularly worried about her, they knew Ollie could take care of herself but it was a bit odd that none of them had seen her.

'You know what would be really helpful' Professor Longbottom commented to his old friend as they watched the 7th years leave the great hall 'that old map of yours'

'I'm afraid Teddy has the map' Harry replied 'but I can go and get it off him, good idea Nev' he called out before running in the direction of the Gryffindor tower, hoping to gain a glimpse of his daughter on the way.

* * *

><p>Ollie stared out over the Hogwarts grounds which were visible in the moonlight. From where she was sitting, at the top of the old abandoned astronomy tower, she could see right over the castle, over the grounds, past the quidditch pitch over to the black lake, which was currently reflecting the stars off its still surface (the giant squid was obviously having a night off).<p>

She did not know how long she had been sitting there on the old stone floor, but she had watched the sun set and the moon appear and now her stomach was rumbling loudly, meaning that she had definitely missed the feast. There was a gust of cold wing which made her shiver and pull her thin school robe, that was getting a bit small, tighter around her as he teeth chattered. It was times like this when she really wished she was like Hermione, always prepared for anything and carried a magic blue fire in a jar in her pocket. Ollie knew that she should probably head back to the Gryffindor tower, knowing that everyone would have noticed her absence by now, but she just did not want to face them, not until she had sorted out everything she had just found out.

She reached into her pocket and with her nearly numb fingers, felt the edges of the piece of parchment she had discovered on her father's desk. Ollie could not believe that her Dad had discovered her mother's identity and had then kept it secret from her, having no plans to actually tell her about it. She knew she had said some hurtful things to him but she was not sorry, not in the slightest and she was still fuming.

She carefully extracted the photo, which came with the parchment, from her pocket and looking closely at it, she caught sight of a familiar pendent peeking out from beneath the young woman's blouse. Instinctively she reached for the same pendent which she wore around her neck under her school shirt. Ollie was now happy she had proof that her beloved pendent, the only link she had to her real parents, had actually been her mothers, it hadn't just been the nuns making things up. Her mysterious mother now also had a name.

Katerina Alexandrovna Volkova, Ollie mused. An impressive name, almost as complicated as hers! However she also wondered how a woman, whose name sounded distinctly Russian, was doing in the south of France and how she had met the infamous Sirius Black, who at the time was meant to be on the run. Ollie also wondered what the missing, which had been scrawled on the back of the parchment, meant and why was she born in an orphanage. She had so many new unanswered questions and she could find out the answers. Ollie sighed, leaning back against the cold stone wall as she tried to keep the feeling in her limbs, telling herself that she should be thankful that she had actually discovered who her mother was. Suddenly she heard footsteps coming up behind her. Ollie quickly whipped out her wand using her quidditch honed reflexes and jumped to her feet, pointing her wand in the direction of the person who was standing in the shadows.

'Oh, it's you' she stated as a face came into view.

* * *

><p>Jon knew that as a quidditch player, he shouldn't be this out of breath as panted heavily after running up three flights of stairs. He knew he had drawn the short straw, searching all the towers which were all spread out. As he came down from another empty tower, he was beginning to give up hope that Ollie was somewhere in one of the school's towers.<p>

'Have you tried the astronomy tower?' came a voice down the corridor. Jon snapped his head around trying to work out who was talking to him. He then caught sight of Professor Swann, the transfiguration teacher at the end of the corridor.

'Yes Professor' he replied

'I mean Mr Wood, have you searched the old Astronomy tower?' the professor asked, raising an eyebrow and giving Jon a knowing but slightly mysterious smile.

'But...no...but you don't really think she would be up there?' Jon asked 'Isn't it meant to be haunted?'

'What better place to be on Halloween' Professor Swann replied 'good luck in your search' she added before continuing to walk down the corridor.

Summoning his Gryffindor courage, Jon headed towards the old astronomy tower, the tallest tower in Hogwarts castle. No one ever came up there since it always seemed like it was permanently dark and cold. During the repair work on the castle after the war a new astronomy tower was built on the other side of the castle as people could not bear going up to the tower from which Dumbledore, undoubtedly the greatest wizard of the last century, had fallen to his death.

He slowly climbed up the spiral stair case which led up to the top of the tower and stopped at the top as he caught sight of his friend sitting with her knees tucked up close to her chest, staring out into the distance.

'I've found her, don't worry' he whispered as his peregrine patronus flew out of the tower, top alert the other searchers that he had found the missing girl. He then pocketed his wand and headed towards Ollie, only to find her wand pointed in his face. Jon cursed quietly to himself, forgetting Ollie's lightning quick reflexes and her defence mechanism which had been honed since she could hold a wand. He put his arms in the air and stepped out if the shadows.

* * *

><p>'Oh it's you' Ollie stated, slowly lowering her wand<p>

'We've all been looking for you' Jon said 'we were all really worried when you did not turn up to the feast'

'Did my father put you up to this?'

'Well he is looking for you as well' Jon replied, wondering why Ollie sounded so bitter. He looked closely at his friend and could see tear tracks illuminated by the moonlight running down her face. 'What's the matter?' he asked, approaching Ollie slowly. 'Ollie, please tell me, I hate seeing you like this'

'I'm so stupid' she cried

'No you're not'

'Everyone I trust seems to betray me'

Well you trust me, don't you Ollie?' Jon asked, taking another step towards his friend. 'And I haven't betrayed you?' Ollie shook her head. 'And neither had Phoenix or ...'

'-It's my Dad' she cried 'and Austin'

'What about them?' Jon asked, taking another cautious step and then wrapping his arms around her shaking form. 'What happened with Austin?' he asked, deciding to tackle the latter cause of Ollie's distress. He wondered what had really gone on between Ollie and the Head Boy. He knew that their relationship had been a bit shaky at the start of term but since then it seemed to going really well – well that was until they suddenly broke up.

'I was so blind' Ollie whispered into Jon's shoulder 'so stupid and blind! How could I have thought that he actually liked me? I mean look at me, I'm a wreck'

'No you're not' Jon stated pulling out of the hug and looking down at his small friend firmly, his blue eyes staring into her violet earnestly. 'You're Ollie Potter, the smartest, bravest, maddest person I know'

Ollie gave a weak chuckle. 'I don't know whether to be offended or happy about that description!' she muttered

'I did mention that you are the most beautiful when you smile' he whispered, leaning towards her.

Ollie could see it coming. It wasn't that she didn't like Jon; she had always felt that they were more than just friends but she could still remember what Austin had said and what he had done. 'Look at what my father failed to tell me about' she said, thrusting the picture she had had been holding in her hand towards Jon, pushing him discreetly away.

'Who is this?' Jon asked curiously, staring at the older blonde version of the girl stood in front of him. Ollie wordless reached into her pocket and handed him the document which the picture came with photograph. Jon read it quickly, trying to work out how this could have caused so much upset between his friend, the girl he had almost just kissed, and his defence against the dark arts teacher. 'Is this..?'

'My mother' Ollie supplied, finishing his sentence. 'Yes, I think so'

'And your Dad just discovered this, or has been keeping it a secret your whole life?'

'He discovered it just after the quidditch match'

'So just over two weeks' Jon stated. 'Maybe he was just waiting for the right time to tell you' he suggested.

'Jon, he was hiding it from me and then when I did confront him, he basically admitted that he just planned on keeping it from me for the foreseeable future'

'Um' Jon did not know what to say to that. 'It said that she, your mother, was missing, does that mean that there is a change that she is still alive?'

'She's dead' Ollie stated bluntly 'and buried in the grave yard of the church near the orphanage where I was born, she died giving birth to me'

'I'm sorry, I didn't know'

'I just want to get away from everything' she said wistfully, walking towards the edge of the tower. 'This year is mean to be my best year at school, my last fantastic year and everything seems to be going wrong' she said leaning on the old railing which went around the edge of the tower and looking up at the stars.

'Do you see up there?' Jon asked joining Ollie and pointing up to the sky.

'Where?' Ollie asked, looking up trying to see what Jon was pointing at in the ink black sky.

'That's Hercules' Jon told Ollie, pointing out the particular constellation. 'Can you see it?'

Ollie nodded, following Jon's line of sight and remembering enough of her astronomy lessons to make out the constellation of the demi god. She wondered why Jon was pointing this out to here, though she was grateful that he was taking her mind off everything.

'Well maybe you're like Hercules' Jon suggested 'you've been set all these trials but you will overcome them'

Ollie started up at the stars, twinkling innocently in the darkness. She remembered the story of the twelve trial of Hercules which she had to research for a history of magic project. 'I just hope I don't have to face twelve' she replied 'two is quite enough'

'However many trials you face, you'll come out fine' Jon said reassuringly

'How do you know that?' Ollie asked turning to face Jon

'I know you Ollie' her friend replied, putting his arms around her 'and there will always be people to help you. I'll be there'

When she looked back at what happened next, Ollie could not remember how she had Jon had ended up kissing each other. Sparks shot through her numb body as their lips met. Unconsciously instead of pulling way she leaned in closer, wrapping her arms around Jon's neck as his hands made their way from around her shoulders, down to her hips, drawing her nearer.

Suddenly as she was about to deepen the kiss further something snapped inside Ollie's mind. She was kissing Jon the same Jon who was her best friend. She did not know what was happening and she pulled away sharply. 'I'm sorry, it's just too soon' she whispered, her lips still tingling.

'I know, I shouldn't have, you're still getting over Austin-' Jon's nervous babbling was silenced by Ollie placing a finger on his lips.

'Thank you' she whispered 'Thank you for being here'

Jon drew Ollie back towards him, wrapping his strong arms around her small body as she burrowed into his embrace, relishing how warm he was in contrast to her cold body, how safe it felt to be in arms.

'I'll wait for you' Jon whispered, placing a kiss to the of Ollie's messy back curls 'I'll wait until you're ready.'


	19. Interlude IV

Christmas had always been Nadia's favourite time of year, Katerina remembered. It did not matter what was going on with their family, they always came together at Christmas to try and make the baby of the family happy. The memory of them all sitting around the large stone fireplace exchanging presents was a world away from where Katerina now found herself, sitting new to a small fire at the edge of her cave, wrapped up as tightly as she could possibly be in her furs, as she watched the snow wall steadily outside on a cold Christmas Eve.

She rubbed her hands together to try and restore some feeling in them. This winter was the coldest in a long time and it reminded her of the Siberian winters of her childhood, of sleigh rides with her father, of snow fights with Ivan and Tatiana and of snuggling up with Nadia to listen to one of Grandmama's tales about knights, magicians, dragons and giants. That was before everything went wrong, before she had lost everything including her family. As the fire died, she looked down at her battered old watch, one of the only useful things Ivan had given to her and noted that it looked like she was going to spend her seventh successive Christmas alone.

She was looking up at the night's sky when she caught sight of a strange figure in the distance, silhouetted against the almost full moon. Katerina stood up as it approached her, flying straight towards her cave. The she jumped back to avoid the large hippogriff which had just landed on the outskirts of her cave.

'Sirius' she whispered in disbelief as she watched the black haired man slide off the hippogriff's back. She had not seen or heard from him in months and now she could not actually believe he was here.

'Rina' Sirius replied, patting Buckbeak's side before following the puzzled witch back into the cave which she called home.

'But Sirius, what are you doing here?' Katerina asked once they had got Buckbeak settled and had restarted the fire.

'Nobody should spend Christmas by themselves' he replied, reaching out to find her hand and giving it a small squeeze.

'How's Harry?' she asked as they sat side by side watching the fire shoot sparks into the cold winter air, both of they now wrapped up in Katerina's firs.

'He's ok' Sirius replied, as he took a small sip of the hot drink Katerina had made him,' Hopefully he's going to enjoy himself at the Yule Ball tonight'

'He's going to a ball?'

'Well, that's if he's actually plucked up the courage to ask someone to the ball'

'Is it part of the Triwizard Tournament?'

'Yes and according to the last letter I received from him, it's easier to escape from a dragon than ask as girl out'

'A dragon!' Rina exclaimed laughing. 'How would he know what it was like to face a dragon?'

Sirius then had to explain to Katerina about his Godson's first task.

'But that is horrible' she remarked, after hearing what they had to go through.

'I was going to suggest that he used a Conjunctivitis Curse aimed at the dragon's eye but he came up with a more imaginative way, flying around on his broomstick, which was covered by his invisibility cloak.

'So it's good that you are now near him, giving him support'

'I'm living in cave near the castle, though it's not as nice as yours mind you, but he doesn't know that I've come back to Britain and I don't want to worry him.

'So he's going to a ball?'

'Yeah'

'I remember going to balls' Katerina remarked. 'The nice itchy dresses, the dancing, music and handsome gentlemen-'

'-spiking the punch bowl, initiating a food fight with your best friends, curing your cousins and vanishing the minister for magic's robes' Sirius interjected.

Katerina laughed loudly, her violet eyes dancing in the firelight, trying not to spill her drink. 'Your balls sound more interesting than mine' she stated. 'Mine were normally old stuffy affairs, where mother had laced me tightly into by best dress, so tight that I could not breath, just so I could be paraded in front of potential suitors.'

'Sounds fun'

'Well, there was this one ball, the last ball I went to, which was actually rather fun' Katerina replied in response to Sirius' sarcastic remark.

'It was the annual Minister's Ball, held on his estate just outside Moscow and I was 17. I don't remember it much apart from annoying my older brother by dancing with one of his old enemies from school, having far too much to drink and laughing and Larissa Romanova who had been cornered by Maxi the Slob under the magical mistletoe'

The pair sat in silence for a while remembering past balls, the only sounds filling the cave being the crackle of the fire, Buckbeak's snores and the quiet patter of the snow falling outside.

'Would you care to dance?' Sirius asked finally, standing up and holding his hand out to Rina.

'What? Here?'

'Yeah, why not?'

'But I haven't danced in years!' Katerina exclaimed

'Well that makes two of us' Sirius replied helping Katerina to her feet. 'I think a waltz should suffice' he stated as he pulled the blonde witch into a ballroom hold and started humming something under his breath.

Katerina closed her eyes and allowed Sirius to lead her in a slow dance around the cave. He spun her around before holding her close, her head now pressed against his chest and his arms now wrapped tightly around her and they swayed back and forth to the imaginary orchestra.

In that moment Katerina was transported to a different place, were there was just her and Sirius and whatever was going on between then did not matter, just the sounds of their two hearts beating in time with one another. Sirius did not have the threat of the British Ministry chasing after him and she did not have her father and his quest for her crystal.

'Merry Christmas' Sirius whispered placing a tender kiss to the top of Katerina's forehead

'Merry Christmas to you too' she replied looking up before taking a deep breath and standing on her tip toes, giving a surprised Sirius a Christmas kiss on the lips.


	20. Chapter 15

'Are you sure you will be alright spending Christmas here by yourself?' Jon asked Ollie for what seemed the thousandth time since she had announced her intention of staying in the castle over the Christmas holidays. 'You know I would stay and keep you company but it is Uncle Oliver and Alicia's wedding and-'

'Shhh' Ollie said, putting a finger to his lips. 'I know and I'll be fine, there are other people in the castle so I will not be alone'

'Just look after yourself and write to me' Jon replied pressing a quick kiss onto her lips, before picking up his trunk and walking out of the common room.

Ollie sat down in a nearby chair and pulled out a transfiguration textbook which she pretended to read whilst watching most of Gryffindor house depart. She watched as Phoenix and Raven struggled to haul their heavy trunks through the portrait hole and how the first years where running around like headless chickens as they fretted as the whether they had packed all their belongings which they would need for the holidays.

Ollie was contemplating the fact that it was going to be nice to spend the holidays having some peace and quiet, there were only around 15 other people staying in the tower, when heather came bounding up to her.

'Hey' Heather said cheerfully, far to awake for Ollie's liking – oh how she was looking forward to lying in every morning.

'Hey' Ollie replied trying to match her friend's enthusiasm. 'Are you about to head off?'

'Yeah' Heather replied. 'I can't wait to go home'

'Is your mother coming home for Christmas?' Ollie asked referring to the fact that Heather's mother, Hyacinth, was nearly always absent from her daughter's life and it had been a shock to everyone that she had asked heather to come and spend time with her in New York last summer.

'No, she said she was too busy' Heather replied 'but Aunt Lavender is taking a break from her talks to come back to Christmas and I can't wait to see Niamh. I bet she's grown!'

'I suppose that will be nice' Ollie replied

'Look Ollie' Heather said almost hesitantly. 'I've wanted to talk to you about...well about me and Austin. You're ok with it right?'

'Oh yeah, its fine' Ollie replied absentmindedly, wanting the conversation to me over. 'I'm absolutely fine with it'

'Good, it's just I wanted to clear it with you...' Heather trailed off. 'Well I hope you have a good Christmas' she said finally and with an awkward wave she walked away.

'You too' Ollie called out to the Head Girl's retreating back.

Ollie sighed sinking deeper into the squishy armchair. She really did not know what to make of Austin and Heather. On the one hand she should be feeling absolutely fine with it, since she was the one who ended her relationship with Austin, for very good reasons and Heather seemed a much better match for Austin but on the other hand, she cared for her friend, though they were not as close as they once had been, Heather was still the first friend she had made at Hogwarts and she did not want her to get hurt. It had also hurt to see them dancing together at the party.

Heather had organised a birthday party for Austin the previous Saturday and had invited the whole of the 6th and 7th years. Ollie had been dragged along by her friends and had stayed long enough to witness Heather and Austin's passionate kiss on the dance floor. Seeing them together had brought back memories of all the good times they had had together even though she now knew that Austin's feeling for her were fake. It had physically hurt to see him with another girl.

Jon had led her out of the party soon after, Phoenix had had far too much to drink and was making out with her boyfriend, Cameron, in the corner, and so was not able to notice how tense Ollie was getting. Ollie did not know what was going on between her and Jon, even now, over a month after their kiss and heart to heart at the top of the old astronomy tower they still weren't officially going out, at least she did not think so, but they were more than just friends.

Ollie closed the transfiguration book, she had been trying to read and stalked out of the common room. How was she supposed to understand the transfiguration of a table into a pig perfect if she could not even hear herself think? She walked down the corridors, trying to avoid the steady stream of students who were heading in the opposite direction towards the entrance hall. Finally she found a relatively quiet empty classroom, which was free from annoying pupils and Peeves the resident poltergeist, in which she could practise the spell in peace.

* * *

><p>'Urgh!' Ollie exclaimed, after the desk failed to turn into a pig or any sort of animal for the fifteenth time in a row. She was so annoyed, being the daughter of an animagus you would think she was good at transfiguration, but it was the class she found the hardest, even potions was easier! Admittedly this time there had been some improvement as the desk had turned pink and had sprouted trotters from the bottom of the table legs<p>

'You need to flick your wrist more' came a slightly accented voice behind Ollie

Ollie turned around quickly to the curly haired Professor Swann walk into the classroom

'Like this' the transfiguration professor demonstrated, pointing her wand at a nearby desk, which immediately turned into a pig. 'Now you have a go' she stated after the pig had been transformed back into its original form.

Ollie copied the professor's movements and to her delight she managed to turn the desk into a snorting pig.

'Thanks Professor' Ollie said gratefully

'It is all in the details and the little movements' Professor Swann replied wisely. 'Come with me Katarina' she stated

'But Professor I'm practising-'

'You have practised enough for today and you have the rest of the holidays to do some more. Come and have a cup of tea and some biscuits with me in my office'

'Yes Professor' Ollie replied, flowing her transfiguration teacher out of the classroom to her office, knowing that it would be unwise and stupid to argue with her. Professor Swann was the only member of staff who called her Katarina, everyone else, including the Headmistress called her Miss Potter or Ollie. When she had asked Professor Swann to call her Ollie on the transfiguration teacher's first day in her fourth year, the new teacher had replied that Katarina was a perfectly nice name and since it was the once which was written in her register then that is what she would be called in her class.

Ollie entered the office and sat down in the seat Professor Swann had pulled out for her. She looked around the office curiously as the curly haired professor bustled around the office making tea. There were all sorts of strange things on the walls, everything from watercolours of mountainous landscapes, to a random crest containing a swan and books whose titles were written in a language Ollie could not understand.

'Do you take sugar?' Professor Swann asked

'Um...yes please, one' Ollie replied sitting awkwardly in the chair, wondering why the teacher wanted to talk to her.

'Here you go, I hope it's alright' Professor Swann said as she handed Ollie a tea cup and a biscuit.

'It's really nice, thanks' Ollie replied after taking a tentative sip. 'Professor why am I here?' Ollie asked finally as the transfiguration professor took a seat opposite her.

'Well, I guess I was curious as to why you did not depart with the rest of your family from Hogwarts this morning and I wondered if everything was alright, you've been very quiet in class these past few weeks'

'Oh yeah, everything is fine' Ollie replied hastily 'I just wanted to get a lot done this holiday and escape from the craziness that are Weasley family Christmases.'

'The Christmas break is called a break for a reason Katarina' the professor said sternly 'they are there so you can take a rest from studying'

'I know and I promise I won't work all the time'

'So what is this all about escaping the craziness?'

'Christmas with my family is so loud and noisy' Ollie replied

'Aren't Christmases meant to be like that?'

'I guess so, but I'm still not used to them being like that, involving so many people' Ollie remarked. 'When I was younger, when it was just Luna, my Godmother, my Dad and I, we had quiet Christmases in our house by the lake in Italy. We would stay up late on Christmas Eve and attend the midnight mass because that was what the rest of the community did and it was a really beautiful listening to all the hymns. Then on Christmas morning we would lie in before racing down the stairs to see if Father Christmas had visited and we would exchange presents around the tree. Some years, later in the day, we would meet up with the Malfoys or the Lupins for Christmas Lunch but normally it was just us three.

'So you don't like the change?'

'No, I think it's great experiencing a big family Christmas with wrapping paper flying everywhere and Dad's face lighting up when Ginny gives him a present or one of the twins climbs on his lap. It's just that I miss the peace that I used to associate Christmas with and after such a busy term I really need a break.'

'You do not know how lucky you are' Professor Swann stated sadly. 'I wish I could be with my family for Christmas but alas this job and other things keep me here' and she reached over and picked up an ornate photo frame which contained a photograph and handed it to Ollie.

Ollie looked at it closely. She would not have been able to tell that it was a magical moving photo if it was not for the small toddler sitting on the woman lap squirming every so often because the rest of the picture's occupants were standing so stiffly. Ollie figured out that the woman in the photo must be Professor Swann as they had the same curly hair, though in the picture it was a bit tamer and neat, which meant that the man standing stiffly next to her was most likely to be her husband, which meant that the two children must be her son and daughter.

'Your family?' Ollie asked as she handed back the photo frame.

'Yes' Professor Swann replied 'my son Sergei and daughter Ana'

'And that is you husband?' Ollie asked pointing to the man with a scar on his face in the photograph.

'Yes that is Ivan' the professor replied almost bitterly.

'Well...um...thank you professor for helping me with that spell and for the tea' Ollie said finally as she placed her now empty cup down.

'No problem Katarina, it was nice to have some company and don't hesitate to asked if you need any more help with transfiguration. We must do everything possible so you can get the grades you need for Healer school'

'How do you know about that?'

'Word spreads quickly in the staff room, especially since your father and Ginny can't contain how proud they are of you'

'I just wish he would show it' Ollie muttered as she left the office and headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

Later that evening, when she was sorting out her transfiguration notes, she wondered how Professor Swann seemed so interested in her, more than any other student and how she seemed to know so much about her. She also wondered why the transfiguration teacher was not able to spend Christmas with her children, especially since it was clear she really wanted to and Ollie could not see Professor McGonagall trying to stop her.

* * *

><p>Tatiana Swann placed the photo, encase in the ornate photoframe, she had shown Katarina back in the shelf and sighed, brushing her fingers across the cold glass and she passed over the image of her small daughter, the daughter he husband had called a bitter disappointment because she had the wrong eyes. She had not seen her children in almost six years as a result of her and Ivan's fallout and consequent separation. She had wanted to take the children with her when she left but under the laws in her country the heirs had to stay with the father in the estate.<p>

She then pulled out another photograph from behind the ornate frame containing to smiling girls, which had corners which were bent and was well worn. Katya would be proud of her daughter, she mused as she straightened out one of the corners, before putting it back behind the frame containing a picture of her lost family.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you to the two lovely people who reviewed for the last chapter and I hope you liked this one!<strong>

:)


	21. Chapter 16

'I is keeping everything just as you left it Master Harry' Winky announced as Harry and Ginny entered Potter House.

'Thank you Winky' Harry said kindly as he removed his wet outer robes and helped Ariana out of her thick winter coat. 'Look Arri, we're home'

'Home' Ariana repeated

'Where is Ollie?' Nicholas, her black haired twin, asked as Ginny put him down.

'Ollie's at Hogwarts because she needs to work on school stuff' Harry replied evasively. 'Why don't you go upstairs and make sure Miss Unicorn and Mr Griff are alright?' he suggested quickly, trying to direct his children's attention in another direction.

Soon he could hear his children's cries of delight as they discovered that their rocking unicorn and rocking hippogriff (gifts from Luna) were ok after their long absence.

'Harry why don't you tell me the reason why Ollie is not spending Christmas with us this year' Ginny stated as she started to unpack all their luggage with a flick of her wand as Harry checked that no one had disturbed the wards in their absence. 'I don't for one moment believe that tale that you and Ollie have both told me about her wanting to study over Christmas. You know as well as I do that it is only someone like Percy who studies over the Christmas Holidays. Even Hermione didn't! What is going on between you two, I though t it was getting better?'

'I might have kept something from her' Harry whispered 'and she might have over reacted why she found out about this'

'What did you keep from her this time?' Ginny asked, trying to keep her voice steady as she headed towards the kitchen to start making some tea because she knew that the twins were hungry after their long journey from Hogwarts back down to Somerset, where Potter House was located.

'I discovered who her mother was' Harry said, bracing himself to face Ginny's wrath.

'And you are surprised that she over reacted!' his wife exclaimed, the knife she was using to make sandwiches clattering to the floor. 'I'm surprised that you are still alive and unharmed' she commented knowing her stepdaughter's temper and duelling ability, which she must have got from her father because it was definitely a Black characteristic.

'I just wanted to protect her' Harry said weakly, waiting for Ginny to tear through his arguments.

'From what?' Ginny asked, exasperatedly whipping around to face her hopeless husband. 'Harry she is a grown girl. I thought that you had learnt that you can't coddle her anymore. It will just backfire spectacularly and it won't just affect you but me and the twins as well. Ariana and Nicholas idolise Ollie, how do you think they will feel if Ollie is not in their lives anymore because of what their father has done?'

Harry looked down ashamed, remembering what Ollie had shouted at him as she stormed out of his office _'maybe I don't want a father'_

'Are you coming to do Christmas decorating and have a family dinner at Mum and Dad's later?' Ginny asked. 'I said we would pop over once we had got back from Hogwarts and had sorted ourselves out'

'I'll try and get there, but I said that I would visit the Malfoys' Harry replied

'And you forgot to tell me about this!' Ginny exclaimed angrily her temper building. 'Christmas decorating is a tradition, you can't just miss it!'

'I know Ginny, but it is kind of important I go to the Malfoy's. I think they might know something'

'About what?' Oh let me guess, it's too secret that you can't tell me about it' she said packing up the sandwiches. 'Ariana, Nicholas, we're going to Nana and Grandad Weasley's house' she shouted up the stairs.

'But I thought that you weren't going 'till later' Harry protested as Ginny bustled around the house collecting the things she needed to take to her parents.

'Well you obviously have places to be and I'm sure that my parents would love to spend some extra time with their grandchildren, whom they haven't seen much of recently because we have all been living at Hogwarts'

'Mummy I'm hungry' Arri said as her mother put her thick outdoor coat back on her.

'I know sweetie' Ginny replied, pressing a kiss to the top of her daughter's red curls before going to help Nicholas with his coat 'but if you can just wait until we get into the car you can have the sandwiches I've made and I am sure Nana has made loads of food'

'Is Daddy coming?'

'Daddy's busy' Ginny replied, throwing her husband a scathing look

'Ginny I-'

'Daddy's always busy' Ariana muttered as Ginny got herself ready to go.

'Harry, just remember that you are not alone anymore, you have a family now and don't push us away. You took the job at Hogwarts so we could all spend more time together instead of you coming back late after the children were all asleep from your missions in the middle of the night but now it seems like you are even more secretive than before!' Ginny remarked coolly as she opened the door and taking hold of both of her children's hands led them out to the magic car, leaving Harry standing in the doorway staring after them.

* * *

><p>'You look like you need a drink Potter' Draco commented as he handed a shot of fire whisky.<p>

'Thank you' Harry replied, taking the glass and knocking the amber liquid back quickly, relishing the warm but pleasant burning sensation down the back of his throat.

'You're not trying to get him drunk already Draco? He's just arrived' came the voice of the glamorous Astoria Malfoy who was making her way down the winding staircase. 'Scorpius is fast asleep, so he shouldn't bother us tonight'

'Dora said she would be coming later; she just needed to drop Teddy and Millie off at the Weasley's' Andromeda announced as she entered the room, with her blond haired, now greying sister, Narcissa in tow. 'They are doing the Christmas decorating tonight, so I'm actually surprised you are here Harry'

'Gin and I might have had an argument about me coming here' Harry admitted, holding out his glass for some more whisky 'but I had to come and talk to you and I could not wait any longer'

'What about?' Andromeda asked curiously 'is it about Ollie, is she alright?'

'Well Ollie is also annoyed at me' Harry remarked 'but yes, it does relate to her. What do you know of a family called the Volkovs?' he asked the pureblood witches and wizards gathered in the Malfoy's drawing room.

'That sounds Russian' Narcissa stated as Draco started to pace back and forth across the carpet, muttering to himself. Then suddenly he ran out of the room and returned a couple of minutes later, in a Hermione like way (though Harry was not going to mention that to him) with a large leather bound book. He plonked it down on a nearby table and began looking through the pages, before finding the one he wanted. 'The House of Volkov' he read 'the wolves'

'The wolves?' Astoria asked

'Volkov means wolf' Draco replied before continuing. 'The Volkovs are an Ancient Russian Pureblood family who have vast lands stretching from the Sayan Mountain range to the tip of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Though once incredibly wealthy, the family now only has moderate finances. The money originally came from mining precious metals but has been squandered down the generations'

'What book is that?' Harry asked curiously, He had had a quick look in the school Library for anything related to the name Volkov, but had not been able to find anything but maybe that was because he did not have Hermione's sniffer dog like powers when it came to finding out information amongst hundreds of thousands of books.

'It's not a book you would find in the Hogwarts Library' Draco replied, as if reading Harry's thoughts. 'The Dark Lord kept a record detailing all the pureblood families abroad which he could call upon to serve him when he took over Britain'

'And why did the Aurors not confiscate it after the war?'

'They did but then that incompetent fool, Dawlish deemed it useless and he gave it back. The IDA has found it extremely useful over the years' he remarked, referring to his job as an informant and Dark Arts consultant at the IDA.

'Wait a second, wasn't there some scandal about the Volkovs or a Russian pureblood family years ago?' Astoria asked, looking directly at Narcissa, who, out of all the people in the room, was the one most likely to have read the society pages in the Daily Prophet. 'It was years and years ago, but I think I overheard mother discussing it with one of her friends'

'Yes I remember now' Narcissa replied. 'It was something about the younger daughter being killed in a terrible accident and the oldest being disinherited and disappearing. But Harry, what has this to do with Ollie?' She asked

'Katerina Alexandrovna Volkova' Harry replied handing her a copy of the photograph McGonagall had discovered and Ollie had taken, containing the mysterious blonde haired woman in question.

'And I thought that Ollie definitely had the look of a Black' Narcissa remarked, before passing the photo on to the rest of the members of her family.

* * *

><p>'So Ginny dear, how is life and Hogwarts?' Molly Weasley asked her daughter, as she handed her a cup of her specially made comforting tea and sat her down on the old sofa, as the twins raced around the Burrow, being chased by one of their older cousins.<p>

'It is interesting' Ginny replied. 'I never thought I would be back living in that castle but the twins seem to be enjoying it, they love playing by the lake'

'And is Harry enjoying teaching?'

'I think so, all the people I have spoken to say that he is very good and it is not like he hasn't taught before.'

'How is Ollie?' Fleur, who after she had discovered that Ollie had been the little girl in Egypt had taken a special interest in the girl, asked. 'I haven't seen her around, though she could be outside' she stated, joining them in the room along with other members of the family, who were taking a break from the organised chaos, which was Weasley Christmas decorating. It seemed like most of the Dads, excluding Percy, who as Minister was still at work, had been roped into decorating, giving their ever suffering wives a chance to relax and catch up.

'Ollie decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas' Ginny replied, taking a sip from her cup of tea. 'Apparently she needs to study over Christmas'

'But no one studies over Christmas! Hermione exclaimed 'even I didn't'

'Well, that's what I said' Ginny stated. 'It seems that Harry and Ollie have fallen out again.

'But I thought they were really close' Angelina remarked 'and what do you mean by again?'

'Well Harry keeps keeping information from Ollie' Ginny explained. 'He says that he is trying to protect her and this time, from what I can gather, was the final straw for Ollie.

'Do you know what he kept from her?' Hermione asked

'He apparently discovered who her mother was and decided to hide it from her' Ginny replied.

'Where is that man?' Hermione exclaimed. 'Ollie's not a child anymore! At her age we were off fighting Voldemort and besides, how was Ollie going to be upset about him discovering who her mother was?'

'Maybe you should look at this from Harry's perspective' Molly suggested, offering her contribution to the discussion. 'Now I'm not saying that his actions were right' she stated as her daughter and daughters in law began to protest 'but look at it from Harry's point of view for a moment. Ollie for over ten years was the closest thing her had to a family and he practically raised her single handily. I think that with him being on missions and the danger he unintentionally put her in, he feels like he did not give her the childhood she deserved, forcing her to grow up much sooner than she should've had to and he blames himself for that. He wanted to give her the childhood he never had and he believes he failed'

'How do you know that?' Ginny asked almost jealously, because she had never heard express the things her mother was saying and she was his wife.

'Even someone like Harry Potter worried if they are a good father' Molly replied evasively, not divulging anymore information.

'But that does not answer the question as to why Ollie would be upset' Audrey stated

'Hermione, do you remember Harry's fifth year?' Molly asked

'Yes, with such fond memories' the brown haired witch replied sarcastically

'Do you remember Harry acting oddly?'

'He acted oddly the entire year because of his connection to Voldemort and trying to deal with Umbridge, Dumbledore's Army and Snape's Occlumency classes'

'And do you remember why they ended?'

'Snape refused to teach him anymore' Hermione answered, wondering what her mother-in-law was getting at as everyone else in the room listened in closely.

'Harry saw one of Snape's memories, one which unfortunately painted his father in a bad light. Do you remember how Harry used to brighten every time he was compared to his parents, especially his father and I think he was so lost and confused when this image of his father which he had built up in head was shattered by this memory'

'But how do you know this Molly?' Fleur asked

'Harry told Sirius and Remus this, though the floo and asked them some questions. I was also at headquarters that night and could not help hearing their conversation. He sounded absolutely distraught as Sirius tried to explain that James didn't always act like a bully and was the good man Harry thought he was.' Molly paused before continuing. 'I think that Harry though that Ollie would be upset if the image and expectations she had built up over the years about her mother where shattered by his discovery of the truth and in Ollie's case, unlike Harry, she has no one to ask for clarification. You may label Harry as an overprotective noble prat, but he does have his heart in the right place' Molly finished

'I know Mum, it's just that Ollie hasn't had the easiest of terms, what with sorting out Healer applications, getting injured in a quidditch match and breaking up with her boyfriend' Ginny said.

'What happened there?' Hermione asked. 'I thought they were doing ok, he seemed like a nice boy. I actually read his application for an internship at the Ministry last week, he seems to show lots of promise since he is already a member of the wizarding youth parliament'

'I was actually going to speak to you or Percy about this sometime about Austin, just be warned, he isn't as nice as he seems' Ginny stated earnestly, hoping that Ollie would not be annoyed that she was telling other people vaguely what happened between them, but she felt that Ollie deserved to have some sort of revenge on Austin after what he did to her. 'He's a nasty piece of work and only dated Ollie because she is the famous Harry Potter's daughter and has influential connections'

'No!' everyone in the room exclaimed in horror.

'But that is absolutely awful' Hermione exclaimed, she couldn't believe that the boy who looked so charming on paper was so conniving in real life.

'Well he's very ambitious' Ginny stated 'even more so than Percy was, if you can believe that is possible'

'But Percy wouldn't do that'

'That's not the worst of it though' Ginny said, now really hoping that Ollie would be angry that she was about to tell people her deepest secret but to be quite honest Ginny had been dying to tell another person about Austin's dastardly deeds. She had had to practically restrain herself from tell her husband, trying to obey Ollie's wishes. 'He...he...' she stuttered trying to get the words out.

'He didn't?' Hermione asked in astonishment getting was Ginny as trying to say.

'No but it was close, I would hate to think what could have happened if Ollie had not been able to reach her wand and curse the boy' Ginny replied, as loud gasps were emitted by all the people in the room.

'The poor child!' Fleur cried out, covering her mouth in shock. 'Does Harry know?'

'No' Ginny said 'she came running to our quarters and only I was there. Once she had finished teeing me what happened she begged me not to tell her father. I told her she should, but I think that she was ashamed that she was blind to Austin's true character'

'But it was not her fault' Molly stated, making a mental note to send extra of Ollie's favourite homemade fudge and biscuits to the girl as well as her annual Christmas jumper. 'Is she ok now?'

'I think so' Ginny replied 'though it hard to tell with Ollie, because she can mask her emotions so well. I think it is getting better for her now and there is definitely something going on between her and Jonathan Wood.'

'Oliver Wood's nephew?' Angelina asked 'well you can point him out to me at his wedding next week. I can't believe him and Alicia have finally got their acts together and are getting married, it's about time don't you think?' and wit h that the conversation drifted from Ollie and her many problems.

* * *

><p>The occupants of the room looked up as they heard a loud crash coming from the hall.<p>

'That would be Nymphadora' Andromeda remarked almost disapprovingly as her clumsy daughter entered the room.

'Wotcher everyone' she said before flopping down in the nearest chair with a tired sigh, gratefully excepting the drink Draco handed to her. 'I promise I did not break that stupid vase of yours this time Astoria'

Astoria just chuckled 'as I told you the last time you knocked it over, it doesn't matter if you do because we can easily fix it and also it was a wedding present from my irritable great aunt and we only keep it there because it makes my mother happy when she comes to visit'

'Sorry I'm late, it seems that it takes longer to get your children ready to go out now they are teenagers then it was when they were babies. Actually I was surprised when I got your letter asking to meet up' she stated turning to Harry 'how did you get out of the Weasley Christmas decorating?'

'Well...I...'

'We've already had this discussion Dore, I'll fill you in later' her mother stated cutting through Harry's stuttering.

'So when does your husband get back from his grand tour?' Narcissa asked

'Well it does not actually finish until around Easter but he has a two week break over Christmas so he arrives back in the country from Gibraltar next week' Tonks replied.

The night continued in a similar manner as they sat around the fire disusing what they were all up to, Harry recounting some of his more interesting lessons and students, Astoria telling them all about the new range of woman's dress robes she was bringing out in the spring ('tell Ollie she can have first choice of which one she wants to wear for her leaver's ball) and Tonks remembering a particularly funny mission (the witch we were meant to be following, turned out to be a man in drag, Ron nearly fainted!)

Finally Harry was able to catch Tonks alone in a corner as Draco and Astoria were checking on Scorpius and Narcissa and her sister were reminiscing by the fire. 'Hey Tonks I was wondering, do you have the notes from all of the Order of the Phoenix meeting?' he asked 'It's just that I would really like to have a look at them'

'I'm not even going to ask why' Tonks replied. 'I just hope you are not going to get up to any mischief'

'Mischief- me- never!' Harry replied 'I just want to do a bit of reading to see what you lot actually got up to during the war. Did you do any reconnaissance work, or did you just sit around the old wooden table at Grimmauld Place, eating Molly's food and drink fire whiskey'

'No that was just Sirius' Tonks replied laughing. 'However I'm afraid Harry, that I do not have them, have you seen how messy I am? Your best bet is Bill or Kingsley-no definitely Kingsley. I have a feeling that he was the one Dumbledore appointed to make notes, but he is not back in the country until after Christmas'

'Thanks for your help Tonks' Harry replied before inwardly cursing. Not only were the notes he wanted in the hands of his former friend not turned person he did not really speak to but he would have to wait until he could get his hands on them and to see what the mysterious Katerina's involvement in the Order of the Phoenix.


	22. Chapter 17

'Urgh!' Ollie exclaimed closing the heavy library book, she had been reading, with a bang, before reaching up and putting it back on the shelf. One of the reasons she had for staying at Hogwarts over Christmas was to use the library, though not to study for her NEWTs, like she had told her Dad and Ginny, but to do some research into who the Volkovs were. She had been meaning to do it since she had discovered her mother's name, but had not found the time. Also, during the term timer, the library was normally filled with people writing some essay or other, but now, during the holidays it was practically empty.

However her search for information had not been going well and the only thing she had been able to find on the Volkovs was a brief mention in a magical genealogy book, which stated that they were an Old Russian pureblood family, who had lands in Siberia, but nothing else useful.

'Still haven't found what you want?' came a voice to the left of her and Ollie turned to face a 6th year Slytherin, who seemed to be pouring over a defence against the dark arts textbook.

'No' she replied shortly, before reaching up to grab the next book on the shelf.

'You've been in here every day of the holidays, so far and you still haven't found what you want' the boy commented.

'Yes, I know that' Ollie replied tersely, she did not like to be reminded that she already had wasted some of the holidays in the library with little success.

'Maybe you should try the restricted section' the boy suggested

'I would, but I don't think the teachers would think that my reason was good enough' Ollie replied as she closed the next book she had been looking through.

'Well you could break into the restricted section'

'And how would I do that? Madam Prince patrols the door like one of the dragons in Gringotts'

'Well, you could ask me to help you' the boy replied with a charming smile. 'Gordon Boyle, at your service' he said, holding out his hand.

'Ollie Potter' Ollie replied 'would you help me?'

'Well, what would you do for me in return?' the Slytherin asked slyly

_Damn!_ Ollie thought she had forgotten that this boy was a Slytherin and not a member of one of the more helpful houses. 'I could help you with defence against the dark arts' she stated finally, noticing the book he was studying.

'Fair enough, I'll help you' Gordon replied, closing his book so he could look at Ollie properly. 'Come on, let's go to the Great Hall' he stated standing up.

'Why?'

'Because, firstly its lunchtime and secondly I'm going to have to call on some reinforcements'

* * *

><p>Ollie and Gordon sat down opposite each other on the one table they were serving food on. As a result of the fact that there were so few students staying at Hogwarts over the holiday, they were all eating together. However many people were surprised to see Ollie Potter actually eating with someone instead of by herself at the end of the table.<p>

'Oi Merry, come over here' Gordon shouted, calling out to a 2nd year Ravenclaw who had just walked through the Great Hall doors.

'I told you not to call me that!' she huffed, looking everything but merry. 'Would you like me to call you Gordie?'

Ollie stifled her laughter behind her spoonful of hot soup. With the added facts that they both had same the light brown hair and annoyed facial expression, from the way they were bickering, it was clear that they were siblings.

'What are you laughing at?' the girl asked, clearly having some attitude.

'Nothing' Ollie muttered

'Merry meet Ollie, Ollie meet Merry, I mean Meredith' he amended upon seeing his sister's glare. 'Ollie needs our help'

'You're Harry Potter's adopted daughter' Meredith stated, plonking herself down in the space next to her brother.

'Yes, that's me' Ollie replied though gritted teeth

'So why aren't you spending holiday with your family?' Meredith asked curiously since Professor Potter and his wife weren't spending the holiday at Hogwarts. She reached out to grab a bread roll from the mountain in the middle of the table as she waited for Ollie to answer.

'I've sort of fallen out with my Dad' Ollie replied quietly

'Oh, join the club!' Meredith exclaimed

'So why are you at Hogwarts for Christmas?' Ollie asked

'Dad has a new young wife and a new family' Meredith replied as she buttered her roll

'Don't forget that that Anita absolutely loathes us' Gordon interjected 'and Mum's off gallivanting with her new toy boy'

'Wow, and I thought that my mad family was bad' Ollie replied. 'I can sympathise with you though, sometimes you feel really out of place.

'So what do you want us to do? Meredith asked as they finished their lunch, having had a discussion about their respective families' vices 'and what do you need me for?'

Ollie looked helplessly at Gordon, who seemed to be the brains behind the operation

'Ollie needs to get into the restricted section and I need you to be a stereotypical Ravenclaw (Meredith huffed) and distract Madam Prince.

'I suppose I will help you -'

'Brilliant!' her brother replied cutting across her

'As long as Ollie can help me with defence against the dark arts as well' Meredith finished

'How did you know?' Gordon asked incredulously, turning to look at his sister.

'Well, why else would you be helping someone? You only help someone if you are going to get something out of it and what you need at the moment is a defence against the dark arts tutor, because that is the subject you have been failing in all term and who better that Professor Potter's daughter?'

'She's good' Ollie commented. 'Yes if you want I can help you as well' she offered to Meredith.

'Well now that's sorted, here's what we will do...'

* * *

><p>Ollie stood nearby the entrance to the restricted section, surreptitiously peering over the top of a book as she watched as on Gordon's signal, Meredith, as planned, engaged Madam Prince in a conversation so she was distracted.<p>

'Madam Prince, I was wondering if you could help me find a book which would help me understand the workings of a mandrake root' Ollie heard Meredith asked the librarian sweetly before leading the fearsome librarian to the part of the vast library furthest way from the restricted section.

'Quickly!' Gordon hissed as he appeared out from behind a bookshelf and dragged Ollie into the now unguarded restricted section. 'Now don't go near the books by the windows, or near the ones in that shelf covered in chains, they're the howling book and try not to perform any magic in front of the book as some react badly. 'What?' he asked as Ollie looked at him quizzically, wondering how he knew all of this. 'It was a dare which went badly wrong in my third year' he answered.

'And you got caught?'

'Well how was I meant to know that half the books in here aren't real books but just act as alarms? Now hurry up before she comes back!'

Ollie wondered between the shelves, glancing over the book titles. She had only ever been in the restricted section back in her fifth year when she needed to read up on the polyjuice potion for a project. Finally she found a row which was dedicated to magical history. She ran along the aisle, blanching slightly and some of the more gruesome titles, until she found one which looked vaguely promising, Eastern European Magical Legends. She flicked through the pages of the old book which depicted crude drawings of multiple beheadings, ugly creatures and even some flaying, until she came across a page dedicated to a legend call the Secret of the Sayan Mountains, which she remembered behind part of Siberia, from her research in that area, since that was where the Volkovs came from. As she was about to read the page, she heard Gordon's warning whisper.

'Ollie, she's coming back!'

Quickly she pulled out a blank piece of parchment from within her robes and performed a hasty copying charm, praying that this was not one of those books which reacted badly to magic, that Gordon had mentioned. To her immense relief it was not and Ollie grabbed the now text covered piece of parchment and stuffed it back into her robes, placed the book back on the shelf, before running out of the restricted section with Gordon. They stood near the entrance panting slightly as Meredith and Madam Prince appeared around the corner.

'Thank you for all your help' she heard Meredith say to the librarian and Ollie breathed out a sigh of relief, they had done it!

* * *

><p>'So did you fine what you were looking for?' Meredith asked as she tucked into ice-cream and pancakes in the kitchens afterwards. Apparently holding a conversation with a librarian and standing on guard duty made you very hungry so Ollie had take the siblings down into the kitchens, where she had introduced them to Ribbons, who had quickly provided the hungry trio with food and drink.<p>

'I think I found something' Ollie replied as she took a sip from her hot chocolate

'I never thought that we would actually make it out in time' Gordon remarked as he tackled his waffles 'I really thought she was going to catch us!'

Ollie just laughed; it was good to be having mad adventures, though she felt slightly guilty that it was not Jon or Phoenix that she was sharing them with. She also could not wait to read what was written on the parchment and she hoped that their little afternoon escapade had been worth it.

* * *

><p>Ollie collapsed, tucking her feet underneath her as she curled up in the squishy armchair by the fire in the deserted Gryffindor Common Room. She pulled out the parchment and read it eagerly.<p>

_The Secrets of the Sayan Mountains_

_There was once a local witch who was exploring the caves in the mountains near where she lived. She was sheltering from a storm in one of the caves when she came across a stone, which called to her and she impulsively picked it up._ _When the storm subsided she tried to leave the cave be to her horror discovered that during the course of the storm the giants which dwelt in the mountains had been awoken and were now blocking her way. _

_The witch, believing that her life was about to come to an end, closed her eyes and held the stone tight, as the giants advanced towards her, hoping that by some miracle they would just go away. To her amazement, when she opened her eyes, wondering why she had not yet been devoured by the clearly hungry giants, she saw that the giants had parted, now standing at the sides of the cave with a blank look in their eyes. _

_The witch ran home clutching the stone which she believed had saved her life and had given her power over the giants._

Ollie finished reading the parchment angrily and gave a frustrated sigh; it had nothing remotely to do with the Volkovs and was practically a children's story. She wondered why something, which was practically a fairy tale, was in the restricted section and Ollie crumpled up the useless piece of parchment into a ball before throwing it with her accurate chaser's aim, into the fire. All she had wanted to do was find out more about her mother, but it was proving harder than she had expected.

* * *

><p>'That is unusual' Gabby commented putting down the local newspaper of the French town she had her husband were currently staying in before they headed back home for Christmas.<p>

'What is it?' Dennis asked, looking up from repairing his camera. His blonde haired wife just slid the newspaper across the coffee table towards him, pointing at the article in question. 'Gabby you know that I'm hopeless at reading French, the only word I can understand in that entire article is fire, and so what is so strange about this fire?'

'The fact is that the fire in question happened in a convent run orphanage in a village near here and according to the local police, there was no obvious cause for the blaze so they concluded that it must be accidental'

'So?'

'Look Dennis, how likely do you think it would be that these nuns just left a cooker on or forgot about a candle whilst looking after all those children. They are nuns, they are more responsible than this article is implying. Can we just go and take a quick look?' she asked her husband widening her cornflower blue eyes and pulling a face that she knew he could not refuse.

'Fine, we've still got a couple of days before we need to get back' Dennis replied.

'Bonjour' Gabby said as a nun opened the old wooden door to the convent, one of the only buildings which had not been too badly damaged by the fire, 'My partner and I are here to investigate the fire'

'We've already had the police investigate and they said it was an accident' the nun replied

'But you don't believe that, do you?' Gabby countered as the nun was about to shut the door in their faces. 'Look, we are special investigators and like you, we don't believe that the fire was an accident'

'Well, you'd better come in' the nun replied, opening the door wide enough to allow Gabby and Dennis to enter. 'You should probably speak to the mother superior' she stated as they walked down a tiled corridor. 'We are the only two sisters here, the rest have gone with the children to our temporary home in the next village, whilst we try and work out how to fund and repair the buildings damaged by the fire' she added before knocking on the Mother Superior's door.

'So what brings you to St Cecilia's?' the Mother Superior asked, peering at Gabby and Dennis over the top of her large round glasses.

'We came to investigate the fire' Gabby replied

'What about it?'

'We, like you, believe that the cause of the fire was not an accident' Gabby said. 'Can you remember anything suspicious or odd which occurred before the fire?'

The Mother Superior sat forward in her chair, leaning on the old desk. 'Well, now you mention it, we did have one peculiar visitor, a foreigner, I guess because even though his French was impeccable, he had a heavy accent. Anyway, he came and asked if we remembered a child called Ollie-'

'Gabby and Dennis looked at each other in alarm.

'-and when I replied that we have never had anyone called Ollie here, he asked if we remembered someone called Katerina instead. He seemed to get really annoyed when again, I replied no. I have been head of his orphanage for over thirty years and I remember every child who passes through our gates. I told him that we have never had a child called Katerina but we did have a woman, who died during childbirth along with her baby.'

'What did this man look like?' Dennis asked, in his less than perfect French.

'Well he was dressed rather oddly, like he was wearing robes and he had this peculiar scar running down the left had side of his face...'

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><p><em>And so the plot thickness...<em>

_PLEASE REVIEW!  
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_:)  
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	23. Interlude V

'That fire should last through the night' Katerina stated as she slipped into the make shift bed, made from bits of fur and other scraps of material, next to Sirius. It was under the pretext that they would be warmer if they slept next to each other, but really she enjoyed have a person next to her, touching her, skin to skin and it made a change from the many lonely nights she had spent in her cave. 'It should keep away the monsters'

'The monsters?' Sirius asked in disbelief as snuggled into the bed next to him. 'How old are you Rina? Besides if any monsters were to enter this cave I would gladly step in and defend you from them'

'How gallant of you Sirius' she replied dryly 'but I can defend myself, you may laugh, but there are monsters that live in these mountains'

Seriously, what type of monsters?' Sirius asked curiously

'Giants' Katerina whispered in the darkness

'What, they are actually real?' Sirius asked. He remembered the rumours he had heard of Giants in the south of France during his time at Hogwarts, but he had not believed them. He had thought that giants belonged in dark damp caves up north, not somewhere which was meant to be warm and dry. However, now he was experiencing a winter in the Pyrenees, he guesses it could be plausible that there were actually giants here.

'They are as real as you or I' Katerina replied

'So when you told me to look out for giants every time I left the cave last summer, to find food or water, you actually meant, look out for giants?'

'What else could I have meant Sirius?'

'I just thought it was one of those phrases that had been lost in translation, like 'it's raining cats and dogs' or 'don't let the bed bugs bite'' he explained

'No, I really meant, look out for giants' Katerina stated

'So have you actually seen them?' Sirius as Katerina tried to get to sleep

'Yes, otherwise why would I be warning you about them?'

'So if you knew they were here, why did you choose to settle here, when danger is only around the corner?' Sirius asked curiously, wondering what had drawn the Russian to this isolated cave and being neighbours with giants.

'Because they can also provide protection' Katerina replied evasively

'Can you take me to see them?

'Yes, now please let me get some sleep' and with that, Katerina rolled over away from Sirius.

* * *

><p>A shaggy black dog and a sleek white wolf with violet eyes quickly made their way along the steep mountain path. Katerina had told Sirius that it would be quicker, easier and safer if they made their way towards the giant community in their animagus forms.<p>

Suddenly the white wolf came to a halt in front of him and quickly transformed into a blonde haired human, behind a large boulder. Katerina then gestured for Sirius to do the same and they were soon hiding behind the large rock.

'Look, here they come' Katerina whispered as she peered over the boulder and pointed to several large figures which had appeared in the distance.

'Wow' was all that a normally eloquent Sirius could mutter, as the large clan of giants entered the open area and headed down to the stream which was trickling down the mountainside

They sat there for hours observing the giants since Sirius was absolutely fascinated by these huge creatures.

'We should probably head back now' Katerina stated, tugging on her companions sleeve to get his attention. 'It will be dark soon'

'Sure' Sirius replied, still fixated on the giants and he took a step backwards, not realising that there were several loose rocks behind him. He fell head over heels, causing a loud noise and landing in an undignified crumpled heap.

'Sirius!' Katerina exclaimed with worry, running over to him

'I'm fine he replied, dusting himself off

Suddenly there were a series of loud grunts and Katerina and Sirius looked up to find that the giants had turned around, on hearing all the noise and were now staring directly at them. Then they began to advance towards them.

Sirius quickly pulled out his wand in order to defend himself, whilst looking to Katerina, expecting her to be doing the same thing. 'Rina, what are you doing? Are you mad?' he asked, when noticing that the blonde haired Russian, instead of running away, had climbed over the boulder and was actually walking towards the giants, without even having her wand out. He watched in a mixture of amazement and worry as she closed her violet eyes, clutched something around her neck and began muttering things in a language he could not understand, like she was saying a prayer.

Then as if by magic, the giants stopped their advancement, their eyes going black, as if they were in a trance, before slowly turning around and walking away.

'What was that?' Sirius asked as he helped Katerina back over the boulder

'Sirius, what do you know of the Crystal of Sayan?' She replied, unclasping the pendent from around her neck and showing him the now glowing crystal in the palm of her hand.


	24. Chapter 18

**So I've finally updated! **

**I'm so so sorry for now updating until now, but I was so busy and then this story was not getting any reviews so I was not inspired to write. Then over the last couple of months some lovely people did review and I actually went on holiday to the south of France, up into the mountains where some of this story is set and it really inspired me to continue with this story. I have now planned the rest of it out so hopefully the next updates will come quickly.  
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**Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story and I hope you like this Christmassy chapter!  
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**~Cherry :) xx**

* * *

><p>'Come on Arri, you have to go to bed now, otherwise Father Christmas won't be able to come and deliver your presents' Harry whispered as he tucked his very excited, red haired daughter into her bed. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before standing up and turning off the light with a flick of his wand. He was about to leave the room, when something Arri asked caught his attention.<p>

'Daddy does Ollie love us?' Arri asked

'Of course she does Arri-bear' Harry replied

'Then why isn't she spending Christmas with us?'

'Because she wanted to stay at Hogwarts' Harry stated with a sigh, having already had this conversation many times with both of his twins already throughout the holiday.

'How will Father Christmas deliver presents to Ollie if she is not here?'

'He knows where she is' Harry replied 'and he won't visit you unless you go to sleep' he added, straightening her Holyhead Harpies bedding and walking out of the room.

'Night Daddy'

'Night Arri'

'They are both asleep' Harry reported to his wife a couple of minutes later as he made his way down the sweeping staircase.

'But for how long?' Ginny asked as she moved around the living room, summoning all the twins' presents from their hiding places and placing them under the tree. 'They are guaranteed to wake us up at some ridiculous hour tomorrow morning'

'Don't worry, Winky said that she would be on duty tomorrow and would make sure that they didn't wake us up before 6am like last year, besides she's had plenty of practise with Ollie over the years'

'Good' Ginny replied with a tired sigh

'Arri was wondering whether Ollie was going to get any presents from Father Christmas because she's not staying here and it reminded me of a conversation I had with Ollie on the eve of her first Christmas with me' Harry stated as he sank into one of the sofa's by the fire.

'Oh' Ginny replied with interest as she settled down next to him. Since their argument last week they had been tiptoeing around each other, trying to put on a good show in front of their children but they had soon slipped into their old routine and it was like they could not stay mad at each other.

'She was so worried that she had not been good enough for Father Christmas to visit' Harry recounted 'so the look on her face when she saw presents under the tree with her name on them, was absolutely magical.'

'What did you get her?' Ginny asked

'A doll' Harry replied sheepishly as Ginny gave a snort. She could not imagine a girl like Ollie playing with a doll. 'I had no idea what to get a nearly three year old girl' Harry said, defending himself 'but I had not wanted Luna to get it for me. I wanted the present to be from so, so she could have the Christmas that I never did'

'Where is the doll now?'

'Colette, I think is either back in the villa in Italy, or is in her memory box. I haven't seen it in her room. What am I doing Ginny?' Harry asked suddenly out of the blue 'why can't I just accept that Ollie has grown up?'

'Because you're her father' Ginny answered, remembering what her mother had said about looking at things from Harry's point of view. 'So what have you sent Ollie this year?'

'Her memory box' Harry replied. 'It contains all the stuff I have got of her past. I know I should not keep it from her anymore, I talked to Remus and he knocked some sense into med saying that she reminded him so much of Sirius and that she would definitely do something spectacularly reckless if I continued to keep her in the dark. I just don't want to lose her' he whispered.

* * *

><p>Ollie rolled out of bed of Christmas morning to find a substantial amount of presents piled up at the bottom of her bed. For the first time in her life she was actually hesitant to start opening her presents, as if waiting for another person in the room to start, before launching into hers. It was at that moment that she realised that she had become so accustomed to celebrating Christmas with such a large family.<p>

Wrapping her Gryffindor red dressing gown around her (a present from her Dad and Ginny last year), Ollie sat down on the cold stone dormitory floor and began to methodically unwrap her first present from Susan, Dudley and Emmy.

Having now acquired a new Weasley jumper, homemade cookies, a beautiful charm bracelet from Jon, chocolate from Phoenix, a book on healing from Heather, ribbons from Ribbons, an adorable drawing from Ariana and Nicholas, plus an assortment of other gifts, Ollie turned her attention to the last present, which had been hidden at the bottom of the pile.

'_To Ollie'_ she read off the label '_I hope you find this helpful. Merry Christmas, all my love Papa'_

Slowly and carefully she unwrapped the present to discover an old cardboard box, however she was stopped from investigating further by the sound of people downstairs in the common heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast and the hungry growl coming from her own stomach.

* * *

><p>'So did you get anything good?' Meredith asked, as she buttered a piece of toast.<p>

'Yeah' Ollie replied now sitting with everyone else in the Great Hall, wearing her new violet jumper with the ribbons from Ribbons, woven into her hair. 'I got this from Jon' she stated, pushing up her sleeve to show the second year Ravenclaw her new charm bracelet.

'That's better than what my girlfriend got me' Gordon remarked glumly from his position opposite Ollie. 'She got me a locket with sweetie written on it'

Ollie snorted, trying to contain her laughter, to not make the sixth year Slytherin feel so bad, however his sister, Merry, who had no such qualms, started to howl with laughter.

'Jon and I aren't going out' Ollie stated, once Merry had calmed down

'But I always see you two walking hand in hand around Hogwarts and now he's given you a charm bracelet with a heart on it' Merry said

'It's complicated' Ollie replied, before returning her attention to her scrambled eggs.

* * *

><p>'More potatoes Harry?' Mrs Weasley asked before piling more onto her son-in-law's already full plate.<p>

'Thanks Molly' Harry replied, as he cut up the food on both Arianna's and Nicholas' plates. The whole Weasley clan was sitting around Mr and Mrs Weasley's dining room table. Even though it had been enlarged beyond its normal proportions it was still a tight fit for all the family to squeeze around it. However Harry still felt as if there was a gaping hole where Ollie should be. He just hoped that she liked his present and was having a good time at Hogwarts.

* * *

><p>Ollie took off her snow encrusted hat and unpinned her damp hair, letting the long black ringlets fall down her back. She had just escaped from the large snow ball fight Merry, Gordon and the other members of her little defence study group had dragged her into after Christmas Lunch. Upholding her side of the bargain she had made with Meredith and Gordon after they had helped her break into the restricted section, she had started to tutor them in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Word of this little revision session had spread and soon most of the students who were staying at Hogwarts for Christmas now attended. Even though Ollie had had to drop defence, it was still one of her favourite subjects and she really enjoyed teaching the younger years how to duel.<p>

Ollie settled herself down by the heater in the middle of her empty dormitory, trying to warm herself up before reaching over to the present her father had sent her, which she had had to abandon that morning. Curious, she slowly opened the old cardboard box to find an assortment of documents, photos and other objects carefully packed inside. She reached in and pulled out a doll, which she immediately recognised as the one her Dad given her on her first Christmas. This was quickly followed by pictures of her first Christmas, a picture of her grinning at the camera next to Luna on her first birthday with her new family, a couple of photos of her meeting Teddy and the rest of the Black-Lupin-Tonks-Malfoy family for the first time. After rummaging through pictures of her time at Beaubatons she finally found a battered brown file and a leather bound book.

Ollie decided to tackle the file first. Written on the front in a cursive script was her name, except it wasn't the name she used, it was her old name, the her Dad had changed when he had adopted her, Katarina Cecilia, with no surname. She opened it the file to discover several pieces of paper, browned by age, with the first one detailing how she came to live at the Orphanage. With her rusty French (she could speak the language, but she had not had to read it in a long time) Ollie read how her mother had been brought to the Orphanage after a farmer had discovered her lying unconscious, having obviously fallen down the mountain side near the orphanage and convent. Ollie then read how the strange woman had gone into labour and though the nuns had been able to deliver the child (a girl), the woman had sadly passed away after the birth due to postpartum haemorrhaging. The nun writing this document also recorded that a doctor had been sent for but due to the isolated nature of the convent at the snow storm, he had only arrives in time to declare the woman dead. The nun had then concluded the report by writing how the baby had been named Katarina after the name they had discover on the locket the mother had been wearing and how she was now in the care of St Cecilia's.

After that initial report there were various other documents detailing the progression of her development and the various bits of mischief she had got up to.

Putting the file to one side, Ollie now turned her attention to the leather bound book, which looked like some sort of diary or journal. As she opened the cover, a scrap of parchment fell out covered in her Dad's recognisable scrawl.

_Ollie, _she read

_This journal belonged to Sirius. Your Uncle Remus found it in Grimmauld Place after the war when we started to make it habitable for life. Luna and I used this to find you as in it Sirius talks about a 'Rina who he met in France. From that we went to the French Ministry and after begging to see the magical birth records, we finally pinpointed your location to St. Cecilia's orphanage. When we finally arrived, your unmistakeable resemblance to by godfather, confirmed your identity. Unfortunately there is no point travelling back to the orphanage to ask the nuns about your mother, because as we left, Luna and I had to perform memory charms on the nuns. I know you might be annoyed by this but we did it to keep you safe. It was so soon after the war that we still didn't know if there were Death Eaters after us and I wanted to keep the knowledge that I had adopted a beautiful baby girl secret from the prying eyes of the wizarding world. I am so sorry, I haven't given this to you sooner, but I guess you deserve to know where you came from. I'll see you after the holidays. _

_Love Dad _

Ollie smiled as she tucked the piece of parchment back into the journal and after finding a comfortable position by the heater; she began to eagerly read her biological father's journal. This Christmas wasn't turning out to be too bad.


	25. Chapter 19

'Thank you for the bracelet' Ollie said as she greeted Jon, with a big hug, in the Hogwarts entrance hall

'I'm glad you like it' Jon replied, returning her hug. 'I've got something else for you' he added before reaching into his robe pocket and pulling out a messily wrapped present. 'I apologise for the awful wrapping but the spellotape just seemed to hate me. I was going to send it to you for your birthday, but then my sister stole my owl, then it was Uncle Oliver's Wedding and so I thought it would be better to give it to you in person. I'm sorry it's late'

'Oh it's beautiful, thank you so much!' Ollie exclaimed once she had ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the small velvet box to reveal a small broomstick shaped charm.

'Let me help you put it on' Jon said, after noticing Ollie struggling to add it to the charm bracelet he had given her for Christmas. 'So did you have a good birthday?' he asked, slipping his hand into hers, as they started their journey back up to Gryffindor common room.

'Yeah it was good, though a lot quieter than last year' Ollie replied 'though I doubt any party that I'm ever going to have fill be as busy and loud as it was last year'

Jon just laughed, remembering Ollie's 17th birthday party the previous year. It had been held in Potter House and everyone had been there: the huge, ever expanding, Weasley Clan, the Malfoys, the Lupins, Dennis and Gabrielle, Susan, Dudley and Emmy, plus all Ollie's friends from school. It had been a loud joyous and somewhat chaotic affair.

'The house elves set off some of the fireworks left over from the previous night's New Years Eve celebration' Ollie said, continuing to recall her 18th birthday at Hogwarts 'and then at tea there was this delicious chocolate cake' she added, smiling and licking her lips at the memory of the sweet chocolaty perfection the house elves in the kitchen had conjured up.

Ollie and Jon's conversation was then interrupted by the arrival of their friend Phoenix, who came bounding up to them. 'Ollie, Jon!' she exclaimed, before enveloping them in a big bear hug. 'How were your Christmases?' she asked inserting herself between Ollie and Jon and linking her arms through theirs as they continued on their journey up to the tower.

'Ok'

'Alright'

'How was the wedding?' Phoenix asked Jon curiously 'it looked really nice from the pictures that were printed in the Daily Prophet'

'It was very beautiful' Jon replied 'though Uncle Oliver was annoyed that the photographer sold some of the pictures to the papers.

'And how was your birthday Ollie?' Phoenix asked. 'I hope you liked your present. I was sorting it all out but then Mother heard it was your 18th and even though I told her 18ths in the wizarding world aren't such a big deal as they are in the muggle world, she wouldn't listen to me and went a little over the top'

'Phee, don't worry, I Loved it' Ollie replied, reassuring her muggleborn friend. She had met Lark McQueen, Phoenix's slightly eccentric mother, on numerous occasions over years and knew that when that woman set her mind to something there was no way of stopping her. The present in question had included a very large birthday card, a photo album of Phoenix and Ollie's antics over the years, lots of chocolate and a voucher for Madame Malkins.

'So what did you get up to over Christmas?' Phoenix asked as the three friends made their way back up to the Gryffindor Common Room. 'Please don't tell me that you spent the whole time working'

'Not exactly...'Ollie started

'So what did you do?'

'I kind of broke into the restricted section in the library' Ollie replied somewhat hesitantly

'What!' Phoenix and Jon exclaimed, stopping dead in their tracks on the moving stair case they were currently climbing and causing several disgruntled students to walk into the back of them, as they turned to face a blushing Ollie

'Why did you do that?' Jon asked, knowing that Ollie was never one to deliberately go and break the school rules

'I was looking for information' Ollie stated evasively, looking directly at Jon, hoping to convey what information she had been looking for to him.

Jon nodded, understanding her look, having been privy to her quest to discover more about her mysterious mother, whom she had found out about before Christmas

'So how did you do it?' Phoenix asked eagerly, linking her arm through Ollie's and pulling her down towards the portrait hole. Out of all of Ollie's friends, discounting Teddy Lupin, Phee was the most mischievous and the biggest troublemaker.

'Well I was in the library when this 6th year Slytherin, Gordon Boyle came up to me...' Ollie began

'So you're telling me that as a consequence of helping you break into the restricted section you ended up tutoring a Slytherin and his Ravenclaw younger sister in Defence Against the Dark Arts for the rest of the holiday?' Phoenix asked, in almost disbelief from her place next to Ollie on the sofa where they had sat down once they had entered the mainly empty common room

'Not to mention most of the other students staying over the holidays' Ollie added. 'Once word got out about my little tutoring sessions, more and more people seemed to turn up. Actually it was quite fun' she remarked with a smile. Her time spent with the younger students helping them with their spell work had given her an insight into why her Dad loved teaching so much. The burst of joy you experienced when someone finally grasped a concept or successfully conjured a spell was quite magical. Ollie could now understand why her Dad had accepted the teaching post at Hogwarts. She guessed that being in the Auror department meant that he no longer experienced the rewarding feeling you gained from teaching.

'Phee, Cameron's waiting outside the portrait hole for you!' came the shout of Phoenix's younger sister Raven, from across the common room.

'I thought he said that he wouldn't be able to get back to school until just before the feast' Phoenix muttered to herself, before standing up and giving her friend's an apologetic look. 'We'll continue our catch up later' she assured them before heading out of the common room.

'So did you find out anything?' Jon asked, now it was just the tow of them on the sofa

'No, nothing interesting' Ollie replied 'nothing of any use'

'So what did you find?'

'Some stupid children's story' Ollie stated dejectedly. 'I had hoped to find out more about her and her family, not just where they came from'

'I'm sure something will come up eventually' Jon responded, wrapping his arm around Ollie and pulling her close. 'Maybe you Dad has found out something' he suggested 'in your letter you said he had given you all that information over Christmas, well maybe during the holidays he has found more'

'Maybe' Ollie replied not completely convinced.

'So Kitty, when is our next quidditch practise?' Jon asked, artfully changing the subject and leading Ollie into a very enthusiastic conversation about all the new strategies and plays she had devised over the holidays.

* * *

><p>Ginny Potter looked up from unpacking the twins' clothes at the sound of a knock coming from the door. After quickly flicking her wand to order all of Ariana's new clothes towards the chest of drawers, she headed to open the door. 'Ollie!' she exclaimed, upon opening the door and discovering her newly turned 18 year old stepdaughter on the other side.<p>

'Ginny' Ollie replied, wrapping her arms around the older red head and pulling her into a hug, catching Ginny by surprise. 'I'm sorry, I lost track of time. I was discussing quidditch with Jon and then I wasn't there to meet you in the entrance hall when you arrived back and-'

'It doesn't matter' Ginny replied calmly, shutting the old wooden door behind her and leading Ollie into the cosy quarters which was the Potter's home inside Hogwarts Castle.

'Thank you so much for the whistle you got me for my birthday' Ollie added 'and for the fudge Molly sent with the new jumper at Christmas-'

'Did you have a good time?' Ginny asked, cutting through Ollie's ramble. She was glad to see the girl in better spirits than she had been before the holidays.

'Yeah it was a really good experience' Ollie replied reflecting on the Christmas she had spent at Hogwarts 'but I missed you guys and the madness of a Weasley Christmas a lot' she added, remembering how quiet it had been on Christmas morning without Nick and Arrie opening presents next to her.

Suddenly, as Ginny and Ollie entered the living area, there were two loud squeals of delight as Nicholas and Ariana Potter caught sight of their older sister standing in the doorway.

'Ollie!' they cried, abandoning the magical building blocks they had been playing with in front of the fireplace and launching themselves at Ollie.

'Hey guys' Ollie replied, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around her two younger siblings. 'I missed you two so much' she whispered, pressing kisses to the tops of her heads. Although most of the time she found the twins extremely annoying as they always demanded her full attention when she was around, she loved them to pieces and had missed them a huge amount over the holidays. She did not regret deciding to spend the holidays at Hogwarts. In away, Ollie was glad she had spent time away from her family. After the very busy, stressful, angst filled autumn term and the separation had made her appreciate her family more. The break had given her time to reflect on her and her father's actions over the last couple of months and now she could not wait to see him. Besides what had happened during her third year, they had never been apart for this long.

'Hey Ginny, where's Dad?' Ollie asked as Nick grabbed hold of her hand and dragged her over to where he and his sister where making things from their bricks. She could not see any sign of him in their quarters.

'Harry's not here yet' Ginny replied, settling herself down on the sofa to watch them play. 'He said he had to go to the Ministry of magic today, which means he probably won't be back until the feast starts'

'Did he say why, is it Auror business?' Ollie enquired, wondering whether her Dad was being sent on some sort of secret mission. Although she might dislike the fact that he was teaching at Hogwarts, at least she knew there was no chance of him coming home injured. Even though his job as an Auror and the missions he went on were dangerous, they were not in the same league as the ones he went on when he was a member of the International Defence Association (IDA), he still seemed to always come back with some wound or another.

'I don't think so' Ginny replied 'before he left, he muttered something about going to visit Kingsley-'

'Shacklebolt?' Ollie interjected in disbelief, knowing the history between the two men.

'-to talk about some old Order of the Phoenix stuff' Ginny continued.

'Oh' Ollie said 'I just wanted to talk to him'

'You know he's really sorry about keeping you in the dark about your mother'

'I know, I was just hurt that he did not trust me enough to tell me'

'Sweetie, I don't think it was about not trusting you' Ginny stated comfortingly, knowing the bond between father and daughter. 'I mean, he did not even tell me until I finally forced it out of him' Ollie smirked slightly, silently wishing she had seen her formidable stepmother do that. 'I think in his own way he wanted to protect you from the disappointment he felt'

'What disappointment?' Ollie asked curiously

'He'll have to tell you himself' Ginny replied 'it's not really my story to tell'

'I just want to know more about her. I want to know where I came from, you can understand that?' Ollie said earnestly

'I know sweetie, I think Harry is trying to find out more information for you' Ginny stated

'Really?' Ollie asked, her own attempts having ended in disappointment.

'Why else do you think he's gone to see Kingsley? Also he seemed to pop over to the Malfoys a lot over the holidays'

'Do you know if he's found anything yet?' Ollie asked Ginny, her violet eyes, which she had inherited from her mother, shining with hope.

'I don't know, though he was sure that Kingsley would have something, however he had to wait until Kingsley was back in the country and he returned from Luxemburg yesterday'

'I guess I can wait a bit longer' Ollie replied with a sigh, before turning her attention to the tower of wooden blocks the twins were still building. 'Hey Ginny' she said suddenly 'Dad still doesn't know about you know what?'

'No, though you should probably tell him'

'Ginny'

'Just think about it Ollie, trust works both ways'

* * *

><p>'Mr Potter, Mr Shacklebolt will see you now' the blonde haired secretary announced crisply, before returning to her paperwork.<p>

Harry stood up and entered Kingsley Shacklebolt's office in the bowls of the Ministry of Magic.. When he had stepped down as Minister of Magic, soon after the infamous trial which had led to the exposure of the levels of corruption in the Ministry, Kingsley had been given the job of being Wizarding Britain's representative in Europe. He now spent most of his time in Luxemburg but for a couple of weeks a year he came back to properly brief the Minister of Magic on the goings on with their European neighbours.

'Harry Potter' Kingsley said as Harry came through the door 'please take a seat' he added, gesturing to the chair in front of his old oak desk. 'So what can I do for you?' he asked 'I was surprised to hear from you and even more surprised that you demanded to meet with me so urgently.'

'Tonks told me you might still have the notes from the Order of the Phoenix meetings' Harry said, looking at the former Auror 'I would like to take a look at them

'For work or for personal reasons?' Kingsley asked. Of all the things he thought Harry had come to speak to him about, old Order of the Phoenix meetings was not one of them.

'I guess you would say it was personal' Harry replied

'Oh' Kingsley said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the desk and gesturing for Harry to elaborate further.

'Ollie' Harry stated bluntly

'Oh how is Ollie Potter?' Kingsley asked, now wondering what Harry's adopted daughter had to do with the Order of the Phoenix, apart from the fact that her biological father was a member.

'Not so little now' Harry answered 'she just turned 18 last week'

'And it seems as if it were only yesterday you were sneaking into my office to sign her adoption papers' Kingsley commented, before an awkward pause was felt between the two men. They both remembered that it was there when they had fallen out and why Harry had lived in exile for the next eleven years.

'So is she still going out with Austin Green?' Kingsley asked, trying to break the tension

'No'

'Oh, what a shame, he seemed a nice enough boy, passionate about politics and highly ambitious'

'Now that's not necessarily a good thing is it' Harry stated bluntly

'Well I guess not' Kingsley replied with a nervous chuckle, as he remembered how his thirst for power and control had led to him being blinded to the corruption in his Ministry and how his ambition had caused him to alienate his former friends. 'So what has your daughter got to do with some old notes?' he asked, pulling the conversation back to why Harry was sitting in his office.

'Her mother'

'Her mother, I thought you didn't know who she was? Kingsley questioned, remembering from when Harry was filling out all the adoption paperwork. 'What makes you think she had anything to do with the order?'

'This' Harry replied, reaching into his robe pocket and pull out a copy of the document, with the picture attached. 'McGonagall found it when cleaning her office. It says she was an informant, but Sirius' diary sheds no light on what she did and what sort of information she supplied to the Order'

'I don't recall the name' Kingsley said, scanning over the document 'but then I wasn't at all of the meetings and Dumbledore liked to keep things secret.

'But you have the notes from the meetings?'

'Yes, I collected them all up when we had to vacate Number 12 after Sirius' death' Kingsley replied whilst standing up and waling over to a locked cabinet in the corner of the office. 'I always thought I would end up given these to Hermione or using them in my retirement, to write up what happened in the war. However I hope you find something useful in them' he finished turning around to hand over a sheath of papers and files to Harry.

'Thank you Kingsley' Harry stated, amazed the former Minister for Magic was being so cooperative. With a final handshake, he headed out of the office and out if the Ministry of Magic before apparating to Hogsmeade. Hopefully he would be back in time for the feast.


End file.
